With COVID being so prevalent in the world it is only fitting that people are searching for a way to combat it. PLPro (shown in 3D) is a key contributor to the virality of COVID, being essential to the replication within hosts, making it a key drug target. Scientists have proposed many inhibitors, including VIR250(shown in blue) which shows high specificity for PLPro. The P1 Gly of VIR250 was fitted with a VME warhead which shows a broad reactivity towards DUBs, ensuring it targets PLPro due to it deubiquinating nature. The selectivity of VIR250 stems from the individual selectivity of P2 and P4, which ensures the safety of VIR250 as it won’t target human DUBs.
Note: hydrogen bonds shown by dotted lines. Hydrogen bonds form between oxygen which shows strong electronegative properties (shown in red) and nitrogen atoms (shown in dark blue). These bonds aid in the stabilisation of the bonding between VIR250 and PLPro.
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