Understanding Selenium and Glutathione as Antiviral Factors in COVID-19: Does the Viral M^pro Protease Target Host Selenoproteins and Glutathione Synthesis?

ABSTRACT: Glutathione peroxidases (GPX), a family of antioxidant selenoenzymes, functionally link selenium and glutathione, which both show correlations with clinical outcomes in COVID-19. Thus, it is highly significant that cytosolic GPX1 has been shown to interact with an inactive C145A mutant of M^pro, the main cysteine protease of SARS-CoV-2, but not with catalytically active wild-type M^pro. This seemingly anomalous result is what might be expected if GPX1 is a substrate for the active protease, leading to its fragmentation. We show that the GPX1 active site sequence is substantially similar to a known M^pro cleavage site, and is identified as a potential cysteine protease site by the Procleave algorithm. Proteolytic knockdown of GPX1 is highly consistent with prev

SUBMITTER: Taylor EW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7492384 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature