The future of COVID-19 series: It's all about the spike
Spikes are the reason COVID-19 hurts us, but their stalk may hold the key to for stopping COVIDs to come.
7:10 am, May 24, 2021
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Seen up close, Spike looks like a multicolored bunch of grapes. We now know that it is the primary mechanism behind COVID-19. Image courtesy of NIAID
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- It's become the most recognizable tangle of molecular ribbon in the world.
Otherwise known among molecular scientists as spike, it is a protein sticking out of the virus that causes COVID-19.
As anyone who has seen the drawings can tell you, the crown-like spikes adorning SARS-CoV2 look like suction cups protruding from a beach ball That's in the COVID-19 cartoons anyway.