Biochemical characterization of protease activity of Nsp3 from SARS-CoV-2 and its inhibition by nanobodies.

Of the 16 non-structural proteins (Nsps) encoded by SARS CoV-2, Nsp3 is the largest and plays important roles in the viral life cycle. Being a large, multidomain, transmembrane protein, Nsp3 has been the most challenging Nsp to characterize. Encoded within Nsp3 is the papain-like protease domain (PL...

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Main Authors: Lee A Armstrong, Sven M Lange, Virginia Dee Cesare, Stephen P Matthews, Raja Sekhar Nirujogi, Isobel Cole, Anthony Hope, Fraser Cunningham, Rachel Toth, Rukmini Mukherjee, Denisa Bojkova, Franz Gruber, David Gray, Paul G Wyatt, Jindrich Cinatl, Ivan Dikic, Paul Davies, Yogesh Kulathu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253364
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author Lee A Armstrong
Sven M Lange
Virginia Dee Cesare
Stephen P Matthews
Raja Sekhar Nirujogi
Isobel Cole
Anthony Hope
Fraser Cunningham
Rachel Toth
Rukmini Mukherjee
Denisa Bojkova
Franz Gruber
David Gray
Paul G Wyatt
Jindrich Cinatl
Ivan Dikic
Paul Davies
Yogesh Kulathu
author_facet Lee A Armstrong
Sven M Lange
Virginia Dee Cesare
Stephen P Matthews
Raja Sekhar Nirujogi
Isobel Cole
Anthony Hope
Fraser Cunningham
Rachel Toth
Rukmini Mukherjee
Denisa Bojkova
Franz Gruber
David Gray
Paul G Wyatt
Jindrich Cinatl
Ivan Dikic
Paul Davies
Yogesh Kulathu
author_sort Lee A Armstrong
collection DOAJ
description Of the 16 non-structural proteins (Nsps) encoded by SARS CoV-2, Nsp3 is the largest and plays important roles in the viral life cycle. Being a large, multidomain, transmembrane protein, Nsp3 has been the most challenging Nsp to characterize. Encoded within Nsp3 is the papain-like protease domain (PLpro) that cleaves not only the viral polypeptide but also K48-linked polyubiquitin and the ubiquitin-like modifier, ISG15, from host cell proteins. We here compare the interactors of PLpro and Nsp3 and find a largely overlapping interactome. Intriguingly, we find that near full length Nsp3 is a more active protease compared to the minimal catalytic domain of PLpro. Using a MALDI-TOF based assay, we screen 1971 approved clinical compounds and identify five compounds that inhibit PLpro with IC50s in the low micromolar range but showed cross reactivity with other human deubiquitinases and had no significant antiviral activity in cellular SARS-CoV-2 infection assays. We therefore looked for alternative methods to block PLpro activity and engineered competitive nanobodies that bind to PLpro at the substrate binding site with nanomolar affinity thus inhibiting the enzyme. Our work highlights the importance of studying Nsp3 and provides tools and valuable insights to investigate Nsp3 biology during the viral infection cycle.
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spelling doaj-art-7e4e63d2ba344215bb01a64466ff2cc42025-08-20T03:44:40ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032021-01-01167e025336410.1371/journal.pone.0253364Biochemical characterization of protease activity of Nsp3 from SARS-CoV-2 and its inhibition by nanobodies.Lee A ArmstrongSven M LangeVirginia Dee CesareStephen P MatthewsRaja Sekhar NirujogiIsobel ColeAnthony HopeFraser CunninghamRachel TothRukmini MukherjeeDenisa BojkovaFranz GruberDavid GrayPaul G WyattJindrich CinatlIvan DikicPaul DaviesYogesh KulathuOf the 16 non-structural proteins (Nsps) encoded by SARS CoV-2, Nsp3 is the largest and plays important roles in the viral life cycle. Being a large, multidomain, transmembrane protein, Nsp3 has been the most challenging Nsp to characterize. Encoded within Nsp3 is the papain-like protease domain (PLpro) that cleaves not only the viral polypeptide but also K48-linked polyubiquitin and the ubiquitin-like modifier, ISG15, from host cell proteins. We here compare the interactors of PLpro and Nsp3 and find a largely overlapping interactome. Intriguingly, we find that near full length Nsp3 is a more active protease compared to the minimal catalytic domain of PLpro. Using a MALDI-TOF based assay, we screen 1971 approved clinical compounds and identify five compounds that inhibit PLpro with IC50s in the low micromolar range but showed cross reactivity with other human deubiquitinases and had no significant antiviral activity in cellular SARS-CoV-2 infection assays. We therefore looked for alternative methods to block PLpro activity and engineered competitive nanobodies that bind to PLpro at the substrate binding site with nanomolar affinity thus inhibiting the enzyme. Our work highlights the importance of studying Nsp3 and provides tools and valuable insights to investigate Nsp3 biology during the viral infection cycle.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253364
spellingShingle Lee A Armstrong
Sven M Lange
Virginia Dee Cesare
Stephen P Matthews
Raja Sekhar Nirujogi
Isobel Cole
Anthony Hope
Fraser Cunningham
Rachel Toth
Rukmini Mukherjee
Denisa Bojkova
Franz Gruber
David Gray
Paul G Wyatt
Jindrich Cinatl
Ivan Dikic
Paul Davies
Yogesh Kulathu
Biochemical characterization of protease activity of Nsp3 from SARS-CoV-2 and its inhibition by nanobodies.
PLoS ONE
title Biochemical characterization of protease activity of Nsp3 from SARS-CoV-2 and its inhibition by nanobodies.
title_full Biochemical characterization of protease activity of Nsp3 from SARS-CoV-2 and its inhibition by nanobodies.
title_fullStr Biochemical characterization of protease activity of Nsp3 from SARS-CoV-2 and its inhibition by nanobodies.
title_full_unstemmed Biochemical characterization of protease activity of Nsp3 from SARS-CoV-2 and its inhibition by nanobodies.
title_short Biochemical characterization of protease activity of Nsp3 from SARS-CoV-2 and its inhibition by nanobodies.
title_sort biochemical characterization of protease activity of nsp3 from sars cov 2 and its inhibition by nanobodies
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253364
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