Antiviral activity of natural phenolic compounds in complex at an allosteric site of SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease.

SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease (PLpro) covers multiple functions. Beside the cysteine-protease activity, facilitating cleavage of the viral polypeptide chain, PLpro has the additional and vital function of removing ubiquitin and ISG15 (Interferon-stimulated gene 15) from host-cell proteins to support coronaviruses in evading the host's innate immune responses. We identified three phenolic compounds bound to PLpro, preventing essential molecular interactions to ISG15 by screening a natural compound library. The compounds identified by X-ray screening and complexed to PLpro demonstrate clear inhibition of PLpro in a deISGylation activity assay. Two compounds exhibit distinct antiviral activity in Vero cell line assays and one inhibited a cytopathic effect in non-cytotoxic concentration ranges. In the context of increasing PLpro mutations in the evolving new variants of SARS-CoV-2, the natural compounds we identified may also reinstate the antiviral immune response processes of the host that are down-regulated in COVID-19 infections.

X-ray screening identifies active site and allosteric inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 main protease.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 is creating tremendous human suffering. To date, no effective drug is available to directly treat the disease. In a search for a drug against COVID-19, we have performed a high-throughput x-ray crystallographic screen of two repurposing drug libraries against the SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro), which is essential for viral replication. In contrast to commonly applied x-ray fragment screening experiments with molecules of low complexity, our screen tested already-approved drugs and drugs in clinical trials. From the three-dimensional protein structures, we identified 37 compounds that bind to Mpro In subsequent cell-based viral reduction assays, one peptidomimetic and six nonpeptidic compounds showed antiviral activity at nontoxic concentrations. We identified two allosteric binding sites representing attractive targets for drug development against SARS-CoV-2.

Crystal structure and packing energy calculations of (+)-6-aminopenicillanic acid.

The X-ray single-crystal structure of (2S,5R,6R)-6-amino-3,3-dimethyl-7-oxo-4-thia-1-azabicyclo[3.2.0]heptane-2-carboxylic acid, commonly known as (+)-6-aminopenicillanic acid (C8H12N2O3S) and a precursor of a variety of semi-synthetic penicillins, has been determined from synchrotron data at 150 K. The structure represents an ordered zwitterion and the crystals are nonmerohedrally twinned. The crystal structure is composed of a three-dimensional network built by three charge-assisted hydrogen bonds between the ammonium and carboxylate groups. The complementary analysis of the crystal packing by the PIXEL method brings to light the nature and ranking of the energetically most stabilizing intermolecular interaction energies. In accordance with the zwitterionic nature of the structure, PIXEL lattice energy calculations confirm the predominance of the Coulombic term (-379.1 kJ mol(-1)) ahead of the polarization (-141.4 kJ mol(-1)), dispersion (-133.7 kJ mol(-1)) and repulsion (266.3 kJ mol(-1)) contributions.