The transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2 coronavirus has led to the COVID‐19 pandemic. Nucleic acid testing while specific has limitations for mass surveillance. One alternative is the main protease (Mpro) due to its functional importance in mediating the viral life cycle. Here, we describe a combination of modular substrate and gold colloids to detect Mprovia visual readout. The strategy involves zwitterionic peptide that carries opposite charges at the C‐/N‐terminus to exploit the specific recognition by Mpro. Autolytic cleavage releases a positively charged moiety that assembles the nanoparticles with rapid color changes (
The transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2 coronavirus has led to the COVID‐19 pandemic. Nucleic acid testing while specific has limitations for mass surveillance. One alternative is the main protease (Mpro) due to its functional importance in mediating the viral life cycle. Here, we describe a combination of modular substrate and gold colloids to detect Mprovia visual readout. The strategy involves zwitterionic peptide that carries opposite charges at the C‐/N‐terminus to exploit the specific recognition by Mpro. Autolytic cleavage releases a positively charged moiety that assembles the nanoparticles with rapid color changes (
- PAR ID:
- 10370249
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition
- Volume:
- 61
- Issue:
- 9
- ISSN:
- 1433-7851
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract t <10 min). We determine a limit of detection for Mproin breath condensate matrices <10 nM. We further assayed ten COVID‐negative subjects and found no false‐positive result. In the light of simplicity, our test for viral protease is not limited to an equipped laboratory, but also is amenable to integrating as portable point‐of‐care devices including those on face‐coverings. -
Abstract As COVID‐19 infection caused severe public health concerns recently, the development of novel antivirals has become the need of the hour. Main protease (Mpro) has been an attractive target for antiviral drugs since it plays a vital role in polyprotein processing and virus maturation. Herein we report the discovery of a novel class of inhibitors against the SARS‐CoV‐2, bearing histidine
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Abstract Aromatic interactions are commonly involved in the assembly of naturally occurring building blocks, and these interactions can be replicated in an artificial setting to produce functional materials. Here we describe a colorimetric biosensor using co‐assembly experiments with plasmonic gold and surfactant‐like peptides (SLPs) spanning a wide range of aromatic residues, polar stretches, and interfacial affinities. The SLPs programmed in DDD−(ZZ)
x −FFPC self‐assemble into higher‐order structures in response to a protease and subsequently modulate the colloidal dispersity of gold leading to a colorimetric readout. Results show the strong aggregation propensity of the FFPC tail without polar DDD head. The SLPs were specific to the target protease, i.e., Mpro, a biomarker for SARS‐CoV‐2. This system is a simple and visual tool that senses Mproin phosphate buffer, exhaled breath condensate, and saliva with detection limits of 15.7, 20.8, and 26.1 nM, respectively. These results may have value in designing other protease testing methods. -
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x −FFPC self‐assemble into higher‐order structures in response to a protease and subsequently modulate the colloidal dispersity of gold leading to a colorimetric readout. Results show the strong aggregation propensity of the FFPC tail without polar DDD head. The SLPs were specific to the target protease, i.e., Mpro, a biomarker for SARS‐CoV‐2. This system is a simple and visual tool that senses Mproin phosphate buffer, exhaled breath condensate, and saliva with detection limits of 15.7, 20.8, and 26.1 nM, respectively. These results may have value in designing other protease testing methods. -
Liu, Wenshe (Ed.)
The SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) is a major therapeutic target. The Mproinhibitor, nirmatrelvir, is the antiviral component of Paxlovid, an orally available treatment for COVID-19. As Mproinhibitor use increases, drug resistant mutations will likely emerge. We have established a non-pathogenic system, in which yeast growth serves as an approximation for Mproactivity, enabling rapid identification of mutants with altered enzymatic activity and drug sensitivity. The E166 residue is known to be a potential hot spot for drug resistance and yeast assays identified substitutions which conferred strong nirmatrelvir resistance and others that compromised activity. On the other hand, N142A and the P132H mutation, carried by the Omicron variant, caused little to no change in drug response and activity. Standard enzymatic assays confirmed the yeast results. In turn, we solved the structures of MproE166R, and MproE166N, providing insights into how arginine may drive drug resistance while asparagine leads to reduced activity. The work presented here will help characterize novel resistant variants of Mprothat may arise as Mproantivirals become more widely used.