Casting a Wide Net to Fight Coronaviruses

The substrate-binding site identified by the researchers is an especially attractive target for drug development because evolutionarily conserved regions do not undergo high mutation rates like the rest of the viral genome, allowing antiviral drugs to maintain their effectiveness. Support for this hypothesis comes from the finding that a compound developed in this study also inhibits Mpro from new coronavirus strains that cause conjunctivitis, bronchiolitis, and pneumonia. By identifying promising candidates for drugs capable of targeting the entire Coronavirus genus, Yang et al. have laid the foundation for containing everything from the common cold to the deadly SARS virus. Preclinical and clinical trials will show whether these compounds live up to their promise. —Supriya Kumar