Written by: Zohair Ahmed Edited by: Esther Melamed The genome of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, codes for structural and non-structural proteins (ex: proteins mediating the virus’ life cycle). The structural proteins include the envelope (E) protein, spike (S) protein, nucleocapsid (N) protein, and the membrane (M) protein. The S protein plays a critical role in the virus’s ability to enter human cells by mediating recognition of the angiotensin 2 (ACE2) receptor on human cells and directing fusion with the human cell membrane. The S protein is trimeric (made of three protein …