Targeting the Dimerization of the Main Protease of Coronaviruses: A Potential Broad-Spectrum Therapeutic Strategy.

ABSTRACT: A new coronavirus (CoV) caused a pandemic named COVID-19, which has become a global health care emergency in the present time. The virus is referred to as SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2) and has a genome similar (∼82%) to that of the previously known SARS-CoV (SARS coronavirus). An attractive therapeutic target for CoVs is the main protease (M^pro) or 3-chymotrypsin-like cysteine protease (3CL^pro), as this enzyme plays a key role in polyprotein processing and is active in a dimeric form. Further, M^pro is highly conserved among various CoVs, and a mutation in M^pro is often lethal to the virus. Thus, drugs targeting the M^pro enzyme significantly reduce the risk of mutation-mediated drug resistance and display

SUBMITTER: Goyal B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7252589 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature