2021 年 36 巻 4 号 p. 237-245
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is the virus that causes the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19). The molecular structural basis of SARS-CoV-2 infection has been investigated by various structural biological studies including three-dimensional (3D) structural analysis of virus Spike protein, which directly mediates infection to human cells through the interaction with Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), which locates on the cell surface of some of our tissues (e.g. lungs). Further, the 3D structures of main protease (3CLpro) and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) of SARS-CoV-2 provided useful information for understanding the mechanism of the amplification of viral genome RNA in our cells.
In this paper, I would like to give an easy-to-understand overview of the current state of structural biology studies related to COVID-19, and also discuss the possibility of rational design of drugs.
