Amilorides inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication in vitro by targeting RNA structures.

ABSTRACT: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and the likelihood of future coronavirus pandemics, has rendered our understanding of coronavirus biology more essential than ever. Small molecule chemical probes offer to both reveal novel aspects of virus replication and to serve as leads for antiviral therapeutic development. The RNA-biased amiloride scaffold was recently tuned to target a viral RNA structure critical for translation in enterovirus 71, ultimately uncovering a novel mechanism to modulate positive-sense RNA viral translation and replication. Analysis of CoV RNA genomes reveal many conserved RNA structures in the 5'-UTR and proximal region critical for viral translation and replication, including several containing bulge-like secondary structures suitable for small molecule targeting. Following phy

SUBMITTER: Martina Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7724665 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature