Fig. 3.

SARS-CoV-2 life cycle in virus susceptible host cells. ACE-2 binds to the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of spike proteins (S) (1), allowing for fusion with the host cell membrane (2). Positive sense single-stranded RNA is released (3), partially translated into SARS-CoV-2 polymerase protein (4–5), and transcribed (6). The resultant subgenomic RNA translational S, M, and E proteins are taken to the host cell ER membrane (7) and later combined with nucleocapsid protein (N) (8). Post Golgi processing, all elements are incorporated into a mature virion (9) and traffic to the cell membrane for exocytosis (10) of newly budded SARS-CoV-2 particles (11)