Hepatitis A virus (HAV) infects ∼1.4 million people annually and, although there is a vaccine, there are no licensed therapeutic drugs. HAV is unusually stable (making disinfection problematic) and little is known of how it enters cells and releases its RNA. Here we report a potent HAV-specific monoclonal antibody, R10, which neutralizes HAV infection by blocking attachment to the host cell. High-resolution cryo-EM structures of HAV full and empty particles and of the complex of HAV with R10 Fab reveal the atomic details of antibody binding and point to a receptor recognition site at the pentamer interface. These results, together with our observation that the R10 Fab destabilizes the capsid, suggest the use of a receptor mimic mechanism to neutralize virus infection, providing new opportunities for therapeutic intervention.picornavirus | entry | neutralizing mechanism | receptor recognition | uncoating H epatitis A virus (HAV) is an ancient and ubiquitous pathogen found in primates and small mammals (1). It is a picornavirus with many distinctive features: in the blood it is found in an enveloped form but is shed in feces as a naked, unenveloped particle (2); it possesses a low G/C ratio in the genome sequence and a strong codon bias (3); it grows poorly in tissue culture; it possesses a 67-residue carboxyl-terminal extension of VP1 (VP1-2A or VPX), which is important for viral assembly (4); and it has a very short, nonmyristoylated VP4 (∼23 residues) (5). Because of its unusual properties, HAV remains enigmatic and occupies an evolutionary position on the periphery of picornaviruses (6, 7).Our previous crystal structure of unenveloped HAV (7) showed no trace of the canyon that encircles the fivefold axes of enteroviruses and is often the site of receptor binding (8, 9). Indeed, the structure provided no clues as to where T-cell Ig and mucin 1 (TIM-1), the proposed receptor (10, 11), might attach. In addition, the virus capsid contains no pocket factor and can withstand remarkably high temperature and low pH, indicating an uncoating mechanism (7) unlike that of enteroviruses; heating of HAV particles does not transform virions to an expanded state in vitro. Structural characterization of a HAV-TIM-1 complex might elucidate the cell-entry mechanism, but difficulty in obtaining homogenous complex preparations because of the low binding affinity of TIM-1, at least for unenveloped particles, has made this challenging. However, it is known that neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) protect against virus infection by mechanisms that include blocking attachment to the cellular receptor, overstabilizing the virus, preventing viral genome release, or physically destabilizing the virus (12, 13). Structural studies of virus complexes with such antibodies can therefore help illuminate these underlying biological functions. Here we identify a highly potent Nab, R10, which can neutralize HAV infection efficiently by blocking attachment to the host cell. The complex structure of the HAV full particle and R10 Fab suggest where the re...