Description
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the respiratory illness responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 also known as 2019-nCoV, is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus and is believed to have zoonotic origins and has close genetic similarity to bat coronaviruses. The receptor binding domain (RBD) of spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus binds Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) to invade the host cells. Based on structural biology studies, the RBD can be oriented either in the up/standing or down/lying state with the up/standing state associated with higher pathogenicity.