Abstract
The COVID-19 disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has become a pandemic health crisis. An attractive target for antiviral inhibitors is the main protease 3CL Mpro due to its essential role in processing the polyproteins translated from viral RNA. Here we report the room temperature X-ray structure of unliganded SARS-CoV-2 3CL Mpro, revealing the ligand-free structure of the active site and the conformation of the catalytic site cavity at near-physiological temperature. Comparison with previously reported low-temperature ligand-free and inhibitor-bound structures suggest that the room temperature structure may provide more relevant information at physiological temperatures for aiding in molecular docking studies.
Publication types
- Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
- Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
MeSH terms
- Betacoronavirus / enzymology*
- Catalytic Domain
- Coronavirus 3C Proteases
- Crystallography, X-Ray
- Cysteine Endopeptidases / chemistry*
- Cysteine Endopeptidases / metabolism
- Cysteine Proteinase Inhibitors / metabolism
- Ligands
- Models, Molecular
- Molecular Dynamics Simulation
- Protein Binding
- Protein Conformation
- Protein Domains
- Protein Structure, Secondary
- SARS-CoV-2
- Temperature
- Viral Nonstructural Proteins / antagonists & inhibitors
- Viral Nonstructural Proteins / chemistry*
- Viral Nonstructural Proteins / metabolism
Substances
- Cysteine Proteinase Inhibitors
- Ligands
- Viral Nonstructural Proteins
- Cysteine Endopeptidases
- Coronavirus 3C Proteases