Schematic representation of an influenza A virus. The enveloped virus contains eight single stranded RNA segments encoding for each viral protein and are bound to nucleoproteins. Together with the viral polymerase, they form the viral ribonucleoprotein (vRNP). The viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase is a heterotrimer consisting of the polymerase acid (PA), polymerase basic 1 (PB1), and polymerase basic 2 protein (PB2). The surface glycoproteins hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) mediate viral entry and viral release, respectively. The matrix protein (M1) forms a coat inside the virus envelope. The membrane protein (M2) is a proton ion channel, which mediates the acidification of the endosomally entrapped virus. Created with BioRender.com (accessed on 20 September 2022).