A collection of designed peptides to target SARS-Cov-2 – ACE2 interaction: Pep I -Covid19 database

  1. Ruben Molina
  2. Baldo Oliva
  3. Narcis Fernandez-Fuentes

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Abstract

The angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 is the cellular receptor used by SARS coronavirus SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 to enter the cell. Both coronavirus use the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of their viral spike protein to interact with ACE2. The structural basis of these interactions are already known, forming a dimer of ACE2 with a trimer of the spike protein, opening the door to target them to prevent the infection. Here we present Pep I- Cov19 database, a repository of peptides designed to target the interaction between the RDB of SARS-CoV-2 and ACE2 as well as the dimerization of ACE2 monomers. The peptides were modelled using our method PiPreD that uses native elements of the interaction between the targeted protein and cognate partner that are subsequently included in the designed peptides. These peptides recapitulate stretches of residues present in the native interface plus novel and highly diverse conformations that preserve the key interactions on the interface. Pep I -Covid19 database provides an easy and convenient access to this wealth of information to the scientific community with the view of maximizing its potential impact in the development of novel therapeutic agents.

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    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.04.28.051789: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    NIH rigor criteria are not applicable to paper type.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
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    The web interface accessible for the user is generated with the Flask Python Microframework.
    Python
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    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

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    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
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  2. Version published to 10.1101/2020.04.28.051789 on bioRxiv