SARS-CoV-2: coat protein as a target for antiviral agents

The essential functional elements of the corona viruses include the spike protein (S), which the virus needs to enter the host cell, the membrane glycoprotein (M), the nucleocapsid (N), the coat protein (E – E stands for envelope ) and the ORF1ab polyprotein, which acts as a replicase or protease. Alternatively, so-called accessory features of the SARS-CoV-2 genome, i.e. the less obvious properties that have nothing to do with replication, but for example drive the pathogenicity of the virus. Such accessory elements are, however, much more difficult to identify. Genome analyzes and structural modeling help here.

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