A structural perspective on the evolution of viral/cellular macromolecular complexes within the arenaviridae family of viruses

Viruses are obligatory parasites that can replicate only inside host cells. Therefore, the evolutionary drive to enter cells is immense, leading to diversification in the cell-entry strategies of viruses. One of the most critical steps for cell entry is the recognition of the target cell, a process driven by the formation of viral/host macromolecular complexes. The accumulation of recent structural data for viruses within the arenaviridae family allows us to examine how different viral species from the same viral family utilize evolutionarily-related viral glycoproteins to engage with a variety of different cellular receptors. These structural data, compared to other viruses from the coronaviridae family, hint about possible routes that such viruses use for evolving new receptor-binding capabilities, allowing them to switch from one receptor to another.