Structural plasticity of SARS-CoV-2 3CL Mpro active site cavity revealed by room temperature X-ray crystallography

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 3CL main protease (3CL Mpro) is a chymotrypsin-like protease that facilitates the production of non-structural proteins, which are essential for viral replication and is therefore of great interest as a drug target. Here, the authors present the 2.30 Å room temperature crystal structure of ligand-free 3CL Mpro and compare it with the earlier determined low-temperature ligand-free and inhibitor-bound crystal structures.