What is Spike protein?
[[File:SARS-CoV-2 without background.png|thumb|The red and orange parts of this [[coronavirus]] are peplomers]] A '''Spike protein''' or '''peplomer''' is a [[glycoprotein]] [[wikt:spike|spike]] on the outside layer (or [[capsid]]) of a [[virus]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary|url=https://archive.org/details/saunderscomprehe00doug|url-access=registration|edition=3rd|year=2007|publisher=[[Elsevier|Elsevier, Inc]]}} as cited in {{cite web|title=peplomer| work=[[TheFreeDictionary.com|The Free Dictionary]]|publisher=Farlex|access-date=30 Mar 2011|url=http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/peplomer|year=2011}}</ref> When a virus attaches to a [[cell]], these peplomers can only attach to certain [[receptor (cell biology)|receptors]] on the cell. They are very important for choosing which cell it attaches to and how [[infection|infectious]] a virus is. ==Related pages== * [[Viral entry]] ==References== {{reflist}} {{biology-stub}} [[Category:Viruses]]