The newly emerged SARS-Like coronavirus HCoV-EMC also has an “Achilles’ heel”: current effective inhibitor targeting a 3C-like protease

From the global outbreak of SARS-CoV caused infection disease in 2003,coronaviruses(CoVs)are known to be a great threat to the human health.Recently,a new SARS-like coronavirus,human betacoronavirus 2c EMC/2012(HCoV-EMC),has been identified and the appearance of this new CoV raises concerns that a new spread of CoV may occurs in the future.By solving the crystal structure of HCoV-EMC main protease with a wide-spectrum anti-CoV inhibitor N3,we confi rmed that that N3 blocks the function of HCoV-EMC main protease through a similar mechanism to other CoVs.Together with the good pharmaceutical features,N3 is conceivable to be effective to HCoV-EMC and other CoVs appearing in the future.These fi ndings make it convincing that CoVs will not be a threat to human health.