Edited by
Stefan Pöhlmann
Graham Simmons

2013

For a virus to invade a host cell it needs to penetrate the physical barrier imposed by the plasma membrane. Viruses have evolved specialized surface proteins to meet this challenge. These proteins facilitate delivery of the viral genetic information into the host cell by either fusing the viral envelope with a host cell membrane (enveloped viruses) or by forming membrane pores (non-enveloped viruses).