SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), also known as COVID-19 coronavirus or 2019-nCoV, can infect human respiratory epithelial cells by interacting with the human ACE2 receptor. The spike protein is a large type I transmembrane protein composed of two subunits, S1 and S2. S1 primarily contains a receptor-binding domain (RBD) responsible for recognizing the cell surface receptor, while S2 includes the essential elements for membrane fusion. The S protein plays a crucial role in inducing antibody and T cell responses, as well as protective immunity. The main functions of the spike protein can be summarized as follows: mediating receptor binding and membrane fusion, defining the host range and viral specificity, serving as the primary target for neutralizing antibodies, being a critical target for vaccine design, and enabling transmission between different hosts through genetic recombination or mutations in the receptor-binding domain (RBD).

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