Crystal Structure of SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease in Complex with the Non-Covalent Inhibitor ML188
Lockbaum, Gordon J. ; Reyes, Archie C. ; Lee, Jeong Min ; Tilvawala, Ronak ; Nalivaika, Ellen A. ; Ali, Akbar ; Yilmaz, Nese Kurt ; Thompson, Paul R ; Schiffer, Celia A.
Citations
Authors
Reyes, Archie C.
Lee, Jeong Min
Tilvawala, Ronak
Nalivaika, Ellen A.
Ali, Akbar
Yilmaz, Nese Kurt
Thompson, Paul R
Schiffer, Celia A.
Student Authors
Faculty Advisor
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UMass Chan Affiliations
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Keywords
ML188
Mpro
SARS-CoV-2
crystal structure
direct-acting antivirals
main protease
protease inhibitor
structure-based drug design
Enzymes and Coenzymes
Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmaceutics
Medicinal-Pharmaceutical Chemistry
Pharmaceutics and Drug Design
Structural Biology
Virology
Virus Diseases
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Link to Full Text
Abstract
Viral proteases are critical enzymes for the maturation of many human pathogenic viruses and thus are key targets for direct acting antivirals (DAAs). The current viral pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 is in dire need of DAAs. The Main protease (M(pro)) is the focus of extensive structure-based drug design efforts which are mostly covalent inhibitors targeting the catalytic cysteine. ML188 is a non-covalent inhibitor designed to target SARS-CoV-1 M(pro), and provides an initial scaffold for the creation of effective pan-coronavirus inhibitors. In the current study, we found that ML188 inhibits SARS-CoV-2 M(pro) at 2.5 microM, which is more potent than against SAR-CoV-1 M(pro). We determined the crystal structure of ML188 in complex with SARS-CoV-2 M(pro) to 2.39 A resolution. Sharing 96% sequence identity, structural comparison of the two complexes only shows subtle differences. Non-covalent protease inhibitors complement the design of covalent inhibitors against SARS-CoV-2 main protease and are critical initial steps in the design of DAAs to treat CoVID 19.
Source
Lockbaum GJ, Reyes AC, Lee JM, Tilvawala R, Nalivaika EA, Ali A, Kurt Yilmaz N, Thompson PR, Schiffer CA. Crystal Structure of SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease in Complex with the Non-Covalent Inhibitor ML188. Viruses. 2021 Jan 25;13(2):174. doi: 10.3390/v13020174. PMID: 33503819. Link to article on publisher's site