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Viral Receptors Serving Host Functions

Viral receptors are structures on the cell surface that are recognized by virus particles and provide specific points of entry into the host cells. These structures can be polypeptides, glycoproteins, or glycolipids. Many investigators have speculated that viruses utilize specific cell surface structures that serve host functions for binding and entry. In several bacterial systems, it has been demonstrated that bacteriophages bind and subsequently infect cells through receptors that are involved in normal host functions. These include the binding of λ phage to the maltose receptor [1] and the recognition of the ferrichrome binding site by bacteriophage ϕ 80 [2].