Genomics Inform.  2021 Dec;19(4):e48. 10.5808/gi.21040.

Microsecond molecular dynamics simulations revealed the inhibitory potency of amiloride analogs against SARS-CoV-2 E viroporin

• Jaber AA
• Chowdhury ZM
• Bhattacharjee A
• Mourin M
• Keya CA
• Bhuyan ZA

• KMID: 2524339
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5808/gi.21040

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) encodes small envelope protein (E) that plays a major role in viral assembly, release, pathogenesis, and host inflammation. Previous studies demonstrated that pyrazine ring containing amiloride analogs inhibit this protein in different types of coronavirus including SARS-CoV-1 small envelope protein E (SARS-CoV-1 E). SARS-CoV-1 E has 93.42% sequence identity with SARS-CoV-2 E and shared a conserved domain NS3/small envelope protein (NS3_envE). Amiloride analog hexamethylene amiloride (HMA) can inhibit SARS-CoV-1 E. Therefore, we performed molecular docking and dynamics simulations to explore whether amiloride analogs are effective in inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 E. To do so, SARS-CoV-1 E and SARS-CoV-2 E proteins were taken as receptors while HMA and 3-amino-5-(azepan-1-yl)-N-(diaminomethylidene)-6-pyrimidin-5-ylpyrazine-2-carboxamide (3A5NP2C) were selected as ligands. Molecular docking simulation showed higher binding affinity scores of HMA and 3A5NP2C for SARS-CoV-2 E than SARS-CoV-1 E. Moreover, HMA and 3A5NP2C engaged more amino acids in SARS-CoV-2 E. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation for 1 μs (1,000 ns) revealed that these ligands could alter the native structure of the proteins and their flexibility. Our study suggests that suitable amiloride analogs might yield a prospective drug against coronavirus disease 2019.

Keyword

COVID-19; hexamethylene amiloride; SARS-CoV-2 E; virology; viroporin