Figure 6.
Structural mechanism for membrane fusion by coronavirus spikes. (a) Structural mechanism for membrane fusion by class I viral membrane fusion proteins. Schematics of these proteins in both prefusion and postfusion conformations are shown. (b) Negative-stain electron microscopy images of SARS-CoV spike in both prefusion and postfusion conformations are shown (18). (c) Schematics of SARS-CoV postfusion S2 in solution (left) and in vivo (right). Abbreviations: FP, fusion peptide; HR-N, heptad repeat region N; HR-C, heptad repeat region C; IC, intracellular tail; SARS-CoV, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus; TM, transmembrane anchor.