[SiDock@home] Fifth Target is SARS-CoV-2 EProtein

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[SiDock@home] Fifth Target is SARS-CoV-2 EProtein

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Our fifth target is the E protein. We are emotionally attached to this protein because we explored its druggability in the early days of our project in the context of Covid.

At only 75 amino acids long, the envelope protein (E) is the smallest of the four structural proteins that make up the SARS-CoV-2 virus particle, and it is essential for the virus to infect cells. Data from other coronaviruses led researchers to suspect that groups of five E proteins form a pore that spans the lipid bilayer membrane of the virus. However, there was no direct evidence because the structural characterization of membrane-spanning proteins is difficult with the most commonly used techniques - X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy. Mei Hong's group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology instead used nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to solve the structure of the E protein and confirm pore formation (Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 2020, DOI: 10.1038/s41594-020-00536-8). The group also investigated how two drugs, amantadine, and hexamethylene amiloride, can bind to and block the pore. Although these drugs only bind weakly to the pore, the researchers say the new structural information could help in the development of drugs that target the virus.

In our HTVS, we will screen 1 billion of the small molecules to the pore of the E protein pentamer. We hope to find some nice molecules that can block the pore ;-)

Source: https://www.sidock.si/sidock/forum_thread.php?id=97
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