上海科技大学知识管理系统

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has triggered global efforts to develop therapeutics. The main protease of SARS-CoV-2 (M-pro), critical for viral replication, is a key target for therapeutic development. An organoselenium drug called ebselen has been demonstrated to have potent M-pro inhibition and antiviral activity. We have examined the binding modes of ebselen and its derivative in M-pro via high resolution co-crystallography and investigated their chemical reactivity via mass spectrometry. Stronger M-pro inhibition than ebselen and potent ability to rescue infected cells were observed for a number of derivatives. A free selenium atom bound with cysteine of catalytic dyad has been revealed in crystallographic structures of M-pro with ebselen and MR6-31-2 suggesting hydrolysis of the enzyme bound organoselenium covalent adduct and formation of a phenolic by-product, confirmed by mass spectrometry. The target engagement with selenation mechanism of inhibition suggests wider therapeutic applications of these compounds against SARS-CoV-2 and other zoonotic beta-corona viruses. Ebselen is an organoselenium drug that inhibits the SARS-CoV-2 main protease (M-pro). Here, the authors co-crystallised M-pro with ebselen and an ebselen derivative and observed an enzyme bound organoselenium covalent adduct in the crystal structures, which was also confirmed by mass spectrometry analysis.