Defining the substrate envelope of SARS-CoV-2 main protease to predict and avoid drug resistance.

ABSTRACT: Coronaviruses can evolve and spread rapidly to cause severe disease morbidity and mortality, as exemplified by SARS-CoV-2 variants of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although currently available vaccines remain mostly effective against SARS-CoV-2 variants, additional treatment strategies are needed. Inhibitors that target essential viral enzymes, such as proteases and polymerases, represent key classes of antivirals. However, clinical use of antiviral therapies inevitably leads to emergence of drug resistance. In this study we implemented a strategy to pre-emptively address drug resistance to protease inhibitors targeting the main protease (M^pro) of SARS-CoV-2, an essential enzyme that promotes viral maturation. We solved nine high-resolution cocrystal structures of SARS-CoV-2 M^pro<

SUBMITTER: Shaqra AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9211792 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature