New coronavirus maps offer insights for detection and treatment

COVID-19, the coronavirus that’s causing the current worldwide outbreak, invades cells by hijacking a protein on their surface called human receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). Understanding the full structure of ACE2 could aid efforts to develop new detection and treatment techniques—and now a team of researchers from China is providing a map of the enzyme and the entry point it provides to COVID-19.