Minireview of Progress in the Structural Study of SARS-CoV-2 Proteins

Overview

Journal Curr Res Microb Sci

Specialty Microbiology

Date 2020 Nov 25

PMID 33236001

Citations 34

Authors

Guoliang Zhu

Chunmei Zhu

Yun Zhu

Fei Sun

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

A severe form of pneumonia, named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by the World Health Organization, broke out in China and rapidly developed into a global pandemic, with millions of cases and hundreds of thousands of deaths reported globally. The novel coronavirus, which was designated as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was identified as the etiological agent of COVID-19. On the basis of experience accumulated following previous SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV outbreaks and research, a series of studies have been conducted rapidly, and major progress has been achieved with regard to the understanding of the phylogeny and genomic organization of SARS-CoV-2 in addition its molecular mechanisms of infection and replication. In the present review, we summarized crucial developments in the elucidation of the structure and function of key SARS-CoV-2 proteins, especially the main protease, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, spike glycoprotein, and nucleocapsid protein. Results of studies on their associated inhibitors and drugs have also been highlighted.

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