Potent MERS-CoV Fusion Inhibitory Peptides Identified from HR2 Domain in Spike Protein of Bat Coronavirus HKU4

Potent MERS-CoV Fusion Inhibitory Peptides Identified from HR2 Domain in Spike Protein of Bat Coronavirus HKU4

Shuai Xia, Qiaoshuai Lan, Jing Pu, Cong Wang, Zezhong Liu, Wei Xu, Qian Wang, Huan Liu, Shibo Jiang, Lu Lu

The Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) emerged in 2012 and caused continual outbreaks worldwide with high mortality. However, no effective anti-MERS-CoV drug is currently available. Recently, numerous evolutionary studies have suggested that MERS-CoV originated from bat coronavirus (BatCoV). We herein reported that three peptides derived from the HR2 region in spike protein of BatCoV HKU4, including HKU4-HR2P1, HKU4-HR2P2 and HKU4-HR2P3, could bind the MERS-CoV HR1-derived peptide to form a six-helix bundle (6-HB) with high stability. Moreover, these peptides, particularly HKU4-HR2P2 and HKU4-HR2P3, exhibited potent inhibitory activity against MERS-CoV S-mediated cell–cell fusion and viral infection, suggesting that these HKU4 HR2-derived peptides could be candidates for futher development as antiviral agents against MERS-CoV infection.

2019

MERS-CoV, fusion inhibitor, peptide, cell–cell fusion, HKU4

DOI: 10.3390/v11010056

Viruses

MDPI AG

Microbiology

EN