The papain-like protease(PLpro)is vital for the replication of coronaviruses(Co Vs),as well as for escaping innate-immune responses of the host.Hence,it has emerged as an attractive antiviral drug-target.In this study...The papain-like protease(PLpro)is vital for the replication of coronaviruses(Co Vs),as well as for escaping innate-immune responses of the host.Hence,it has emerged as an attractive antiviral drug-target.In this study,computational approaches were employed,mainly the structure-based virtual screening coupled with all-atom molecular dynamics(MD)simulations to computationally identify specific inhibitors of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-Co V-2)PLpro,which can be further developed as potential pan-PLprobased broad-spectrum antiviral drugs.The sequence,structure,and functional conserveness of most deadly human Co Vs PLprowere explored,and it was revealed that functionally important catalytic triad residues are well conserved among SARS-Co V,SARS-Co V-2,and middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus(MERS-Co V).The subsequent screening of a focused protease inhibitors database composed of^7,000 compounds resulted in the identification of three candidate compounds,ADM13083841,LMG15521745,and SYN15517940.These three compounds established conserved interactions which were further explored through MD simulations,free energy calculations,and residual energy contribution estimated by MM-PB(GB)SA method.All these compounds showed stable conformation and interacted well with the active residues of SARS-Co V-2 PLpro,and showed consistent interaction profile with SARS-Co V PLproand MERS-Co V PLproas well.Conclusively,the reported SARS-Co V-2 PLprospecific compounds could serve as seeds for developing potent pan-PLprobased broad-spectrum antiviral drugs against deadly human coronaviruses.Moreover,the presented information related to binding site residual energy contribution could lead to further optimization of these compounds.展开更多
The global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has infected over 109 million people,leading to over 2 million deaths up to date and still lacking of effective drugs for patient treatment.Here,we screened about 1.8 million s...The global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has infected over 109 million people,leading to over 2 million deaths up to date and still lacking of effective drugs for patient treatment.Here,we screened about 1.8 million small molecules against the main protease(M^(pro))and papain like protease(PL^(pro)),two major proteases in severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 genome,and identified 1851M^(pro)inhibitors and 205 PL^(pro)inhibitors with low nmol/l activity of the best hits.Among these inhibitors,eight small molecules showed dual inhibition effects on both M^(pro)and PL^(pro),exhibiting potential as better candidates for COVID-19 treatment.The best inhibitors of each protease were tested in antiviral assay,with over 40%of M^(pro)inhibitors and over 20%of PL^(pro)inhibitors showing high potency in viral inhibition with low cytotoxicity.The X-ray crystal structure of SARS-CoV-2 M^(pro)in complex with its potent inhibitor 4a was determined at 1.8Åresolution.Together with docking assays,our results provide a comprehensive resource for future research on anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug development.展开更多
Autophagy plays important roles in modulating viral replication and antiviral immune response. Coronavirus infection is associated with the autophagic process, however, little is known about the mechanisms of autophag...Autophagy plays important roles in modulating viral replication and antiviral immune response. Coronavirus infection is associated with the autophagic process, however, little is known about the mechanisms of autophagy induction and its contribution to coronavirus regulation of host innate responses. Here, we show that the membrane-associated papain-like protease PLP2 （PLP2-TM） of coronaviruses acts as a novel autophagy- inducing protein. Intriguingly, PLP2-TM induces incom- plete autophagy process by increasing the accumula- tion of autophagosomes but blocking the fusion of autophagosomes with lysosomes. Furthermore, PLP2- TM interacts with the key autophagy regulators, LC3 and Beclinl, and promotes Beclinl interaction with STING, the key regulator for antiviral IFN signaling. Finally, knockdown of Beclinl partially reverses PLP2-TM＇s inhibitory effect on innate immunity which resulting in decreased coronavirus replication. These results sug- gested that coronavirus papain-like protease induces incomplete autophagy by interacting with Beclinl, which in turn modulates coronavirus replication and antiviral innate immunity.展开更多
SARS coronavirus （SARS-CoV） develops an antagonis- tic mechanism by which to evade the antiviral activities of interferon （IFN）. Previous studies suggested that SARS-CoV papain-like protease （PLpro） inhibits act...SARS coronavirus （SARS-CoV） develops an antagonis- tic mechanism by which to evade the antiviral activities of interferon （IFN）. Previous studies suggested that SARS-CoV papain-like protease （PLpro） inhibits activa- tion of the IRF3 pathway, which would normally elicit a robust IFN response, but the mechanism（s） used by SARS PLpro to inhibit activation of the IRF3 pathway is not fully known. In this study, we uncovered a novel mechanism that may explain how SARS PLpro effi- ciently inhibits activation of the IRF3 pathway. We found that expression of the membrane-anchored PLpro domain （PLpro-TM） from SARS-CoV inhibits STING/ TBKl/IKKE-mediated activation of type I IFNs and dis- rupts the phosphorylation and dimerization of IRF3, which are activated by STING and TBKI. Meanwhile, we showed that PLpro-TM physically interacts with TRAF3, TBK1, IKK~, STING, and IRF3, the key components that assemble the STING-TRAF3-TBK1 complex for activa- tion of IFN expression. However, the interaction between the components in STING-TRAF3-TBK1 complex is dis- rupted by PLpro-TM. Furthermore, SARS PLpro-TM reduces the levels of ubiquitinated forms of RIG-I, STING, TRAF3, TBK1, and IRF3 in the STING-TRAF3- TBK1 complex. These results collectively point to a new mechanism used by SARS-CoV through which PLpro negatively regulates IRF3 activation by interaction withSTING-TRAF3-TBK1 complex, yielding a SARS-CoV countermeasure against host innate immunity.展开更多
The papain-like protease(PL^(pro)) of Middle-East respiratory syndrome coronavirus(MERS-CoV) has proteolytic,deubiquitinating,and de ISGylating activities.The latter two are involved in the suppression of the antivira...The papain-like protease(PL^(pro)) of Middle-East respiratory syndrome coronavirus(MERS-CoV) has proteolytic,deubiquitinating,and de ISGylating activities.The latter two are involved in the suppression of the antiviral innate immune response of the host cell.To contribute to an understanding of this process,we present here the X-ray crystal structure of a complex between MERS-CoV PL^(pro) and human ubiquitin(Ub) that is devoid of any covalent linkage between the two proteins.Five regions of the PL^(pro) bind to two areas of the Ub.The C-terminal five residues of Ub,RLRGG,are similar to the P5–P1 residues of the polyprotein substrates of the PL^(pro) and are responsible for the major part of the interaction between the two macromolecules.Through sitedirected mutagenesis,we demonstrate that conserved Asp165 and non-conserved Asp164 are important for the catalytic activities of MERS-CoV PL^(pro).The enzyme appears not to be optimized for catalytic efficiency; thus,replacement of Phe269 by Tyr leads to increased peptidolytic and deubiquitinating activities.Ubiquitin binding by MERS-CoV PL^(pro) involves remarkable differences compared to the corresponding complex with SARS-CoV PL^(pro).The structure and the mutational study help understand common and unique features of the deubiquitinating activity of MERS-CoV PL^(pro).展开更多
基金the Starting Research Grant for High-level Talents from Guangxi Universitythe Postdoctoral Project from Guangxi University。
文摘The papain-like protease(PLpro)is vital for the replication of coronaviruses(Co Vs),as well as for escaping innate-immune responses of the host.Hence,it has emerged as an attractive antiviral drug-target.In this study,computational approaches were employed,mainly the structure-based virtual screening coupled with all-atom molecular dynamics(MD)simulations to computationally identify specific inhibitors of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-Co V-2)PLpro,which can be further developed as potential pan-PLprobased broad-spectrum antiviral drugs.The sequence,structure,and functional conserveness of most deadly human Co Vs PLprowere explored,and it was revealed that functionally important catalytic triad residues are well conserved among SARS-Co V,SARS-Co V-2,and middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus(MERS-Co V).The subsequent screening of a focused protease inhibitors database composed of^7,000 compounds resulted in the identification of three candidate compounds,ADM13083841,LMG15521745,and SYN15517940.These three compounds established conserved interactions which were further explored through MD simulations,free energy calculations,and residual energy contribution estimated by MM-PB(GB)SA method.All these compounds showed stable conformation and interacted well with the active residues of SARS-Co V-2 PLpro,and showed consistent interaction profile with SARS-Co V PLproand MERS-Co V PLproas well.Conclusively,the reported SARS-Co V-2 PLprospecific compounds could serve as seeds for developing potent pan-PLprobased broad-spectrum antiviral drugs against deadly human coronaviruses.Moreover,the presented information related to binding site residual energy contribution could lead to further optimization of these compounds.
基金supported by the National Key R&D Program of China 2018YFA0507000(B.W,Q.Z.),2018ZX09735001(Y.J.)and 2020YFC0844500(J.L.),the National Science Foundation of China grants 31825010(B.W.),81525024(Q.Z.),81673489(J.L),the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences,CAS grants QYZDB-SSWSMC024(B.W.)and QYZDB-SSW-SMC054(Q.Z.),Fund of Chinese Academy of Sciences 2020YJFK0105(J.L.),Chinese Academy of Engineering and Jack Ma Foundation 2020-CMKYGG-05(J.D.),the Shanghai Science and Technology Development Funds 20431900200(J.L.)and K.C.Wong Education Foundation(J.L.),Fund of Youth Innovation Promotion Association 2018319(X.C.),and the Hubei Science and Technology Project 2020FCA003(G.X.).Fund of Chinese Academy of Sciences 2020YJFK0105(J.L.)。
文摘The global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has infected over 109 million people,leading to over 2 million deaths up to date and still lacking of effective drugs for patient treatment.Here,we screened about 1.8 million small molecules against the main protease(M^(pro))and papain like protease(PL^(pro)),two major proteases in severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 genome,and identified 1851M^(pro)inhibitors and 205 PL^(pro)inhibitors with low nmol/l activity of the best hits.Among these inhibitors,eight small molecules showed dual inhibition effects on both M^(pro)and PL^(pro),exhibiting potential as better candidates for COVID-19 treatment.The best inhibitors of each protease were tested in antiviral assay,with over 40%of M^(pro)inhibitors and over 20%of PL^(pro)inhibitors showing high potency in viral inhibition with low cytotoxicity.The X-ray crystal structure of SARS-CoV-2 M^(pro)in complex with its potent inhibitor 4a was determined at 1.8Åresolution.Together with docking assays,our results provide a comprehensive resource for future research on anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug development.
基金This research was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China （Grant Nos. 81273231,81172799 to Z. C. and 81102478, 81471947 to Y. X.）.
文摘Autophagy plays important roles in modulating viral replication and antiviral immune response. Coronavirus infection is associated with the autophagic process, however, little is known about the mechanisms of autophagy induction and its contribution to coronavirus regulation of host innate responses. Here, we show that the membrane-associated papain-like protease PLP2 （PLP2-TM） of coronaviruses acts as a novel autophagy- inducing protein. Intriguingly, PLP2-TM induces incom- plete autophagy process by increasing the accumula- tion of autophagosomes but blocking the fusion of autophagosomes with lysosomes. Furthermore, PLP2- TM interacts with the key autophagy regulators, LC3 and Beclinl, and promotes Beclinl interaction with STING, the key regulator for antiviral IFN signaling. Finally, knockdown of Beclinl partially reverses PLP2-TM＇s inhibitory effect on innate immunity which resulting in decreased coronavirus replication. These results sug- gested that coronavirus papain-like protease induces incomplete autophagy by interacting with Beclinl, which in turn modulates coronavirus replication and antiviral innate immunity.
文摘SARS coronavirus （SARS-CoV） develops an antagonis- tic mechanism by which to evade the antiviral activities of interferon （IFN）. Previous studies suggested that SARS-CoV papain-like protease （PLpro） inhibits activa- tion of the IRF3 pathway, which would normally elicit a robust IFN response, but the mechanism（s） used by SARS PLpro to inhibit activation of the IRF3 pathway is not fully known. In this study, we uncovered a novel mechanism that may explain how SARS PLpro effi- ciently inhibits activation of the IRF3 pathway. We found that expression of the membrane-anchored PLpro domain （PLpro-TM） from SARS-CoV inhibits STING/ TBKl/IKKE-mediated activation of type I IFNs and dis- rupts the phosphorylation and dimerization of IRF3, which are activated by STING and TBKI. Meanwhile, we showed that PLpro-TM physically interacts with TRAF3, TBK1, IKK~, STING, and IRF3, the key components that assemble the STING-TRAF3-TBK1 complex for activa- tion of IFN expression. However, the interaction between the components in STING-TRAF3-TBK1 complex is dis- rupted by PLpro-TM. Furthermore, SARS PLpro-TM reduces the levels of ubiquitinated forms of RIG-I, STING, TRAF3, TBK1, and IRF3 in the STING-TRAF3- TBK1 complex. These results collectively point to a new mechanism used by SARS-CoV through which PLpro negatively regulates IRF3 activation by interaction withSTING-TRAF3-TBK1 complex, yielding a SARS-CoV countermeasure against host innate immunity.
基金supported by the European Commission through its "SILVER" project (contract no.HEALTHF3-2010-260644)the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF)support by the DFG Cluster of Excellence "Inflammation at Interfaces" (EXC 306)
文摘The papain-like protease(PL^(pro)) of Middle-East respiratory syndrome coronavirus(MERS-CoV) has proteolytic,deubiquitinating,and de ISGylating activities.The latter two are involved in the suppression of the antiviral innate immune response of the host cell.To contribute to an understanding of this process,we present here the X-ray crystal structure of a complex between MERS-CoV PL^(pro) and human ubiquitin(Ub) that is devoid of any covalent linkage between the two proteins.Five regions of the PL^(pro) bind to two areas of the Ub.The C-terminal five residues of Ub,RLRGG,are similar to the P5–P1 residues of the polyprotein substrates of the PL^(pro) and are responsible for the major part of the interaction between the two macromolecules.Through sitedirected mutagenesis,we demonstrate that conserved Asp165 and non-conserved Asp164 are important for the catalytic activities of MERS-CoV PL^(pro).The enzyme appears not to be optimized for catalytic efficiency; thus,replacement of Phe269 by Tyr leads to increased peptidolytic and deubiquitinating activities.Ubiquitin binding by MERS-CoV PL^(pro) involves remarkable differences compared to the corresponding complex with SARS-CoV PL^(pro).The structure and the mutational study help understand common and unique features of the deubiquitinating activity of MERS-CoV PL^(pro).
