631
Views
4
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Research Articles

Discovering potential inhibitors against SARS-CoV-2 by targeting Nsp13 Helicase

, , , &
Pages 12062-12074 | Received 19 Nov 2020, Accepted 07 Aug 2021, Published online: 28 Aug 2021
 

Abstract

The rise in the incidence of COVID-19 as a result of SARS-CoV-2 infection has threatened public health globally. Till now, there have been no proper prophylactics available to fight COVID-19, necessitating the advancement and evolution of effective curative against SARS-CoV-2. This study aimed at the nonstructural protein 13 (nsp13) helicase as a promising target for drug development against COVID-19. A unique collection of nucleoside analogs was screened against the SARS-CoV-2 helicase protein, for which a molecular docking experiment was executed to depict the selected ligand’s binding affinity with the SARS-CoV-2 helicase proteins. Simultaneously, molecular dynamic simulations were performed to examine the protein’s binding site’s conformational stability, flexibility, and interaction with the ligands. Key nucleoside ligands were selected for pharmacokinetic analysis based on their docking scores. Selected ligands (cordycepin and pritelivir) showed excellent pharmacokinetics and were well stabilized at the proteins’ binding site throughout the MD simulation. We have also performed binding free energy analysis or the binding characteristics of ligands with Nsp13 by using MM-PBSA and MM-GBSA. Free energy calculation by MM-PBSA and MM-GBSA analysis suggests that pritelivir may work as viable therapeutics for efficient drug advancement against SARS-CoV-2 Nsp13 helicase, potentially arresting the SARS-CoV-2 replication.

Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The lab is supported by the Science and Engineering Research Board, India (FILE NO. ECR/2015//000155) and the Department of Biotechnology (India) (order no: BT/PR16224/NER/95/176/2015 & BT/PR24504/NER/95/746/2017) to Dr. Diwakar Kumar. Deep Bhowmik received funding from the SERB grant (FILE NO. ECR/2015//000155). Rajat Nandi received funding from the DBT grant (order no: BT/PR24504/NER/95/746/2017).

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 61.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 1,074.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.