Back Cover: Coronaviruses Use ACE2 Monomers as Entry‐Receptors (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 30/2023)

Abstract

A coronavirus (round particles) carrying trimeric spike proteins (green) infects a host cell that expresses monomeric ACE2 receptors (magenta). The low density of ACE2 receptors on the cell membrane demonstrates that on average only one spike protein per virus particle can bind to an ACE2 receptor simultaneously, which provides SARS-COV-2 a high infectivity. After binding, the membranes fuse and viral components are released into the cell, as reported by Gerti Beliu, Markus Sauer et al. in their Research Article (e202300821).