Inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 by Targeting Conserved Viral RNA Structures and Sequences

The ongoing COVID-19/Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV-2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has become a significant threat to public health and has hugely impacted societies globally. Targeting conserved SARS-CoV-2 RNA structures and sequences essential for viral genome translation is a novel approach to in...

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Published inFrontiers in chemistry Vol. 9; p. 802766
Main Authors Hegde, Shalakha, Tang, Zhichao, Zhao, Junxing, Wang, Jingxin
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 23.12.2021
Subjects
antisense oligonucleotide
antiviral
Chemistry
RNA-targeting
SARS-CoV-2
small molecule
untranslated region
SARS-CoV-2
small molecule
RIBOTAC
antisense oligonucleotide
antiviral
programmed frameshift
untranslated region
RNA-targeting
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Summary:The ongoing COVID-19/Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV-2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has become a significant threat to public health and has hugely impacted societies globally. Targeting conserved SARS-CoV-2 RNA structures and sequences essential for viral genome translation is a novel approach to inhibit viral infection and progression. This new pharmacological modality compasses two classes of RNA-targeting molecules: 1) synthetic small molecules that recognize secondary or tertiary RNA structures and 2) antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) that recognize the RNA primary sequence. These molecules can also serve as a "bait" fragment in RNA degrading chimeras to eliminate the viral RNA genome. This new type of chimeric RNA degrader is recently named ribonuclease targeting chimera or RIBOTAC. This review paper summarizes the sequence conservation in SARS-CoV-2 and the current development of RNA-targeting molecules to combat this virus. These RNA-binding molecules will also serve as an emerging class of antiviral drug candidates that might pivot to address future viral outbreaks.
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Edited by: Jun Wang, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, United States
This article was submitted to Chemical Biology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Chemistry
Reviewed by: Tao Liu, Peking University, China
These authors have contributed equally to this work.
Liqiang Chen, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, United States
ISSN:2296-2646
2296-2646
DOI:10.3389/fchem.2021.802766