Ipomoeassin-F inhibits the in vitro biogenesis of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and its host cell membrane receptor

Abstract

In order to produce proteins essential for their propagation, many pathogenic human viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19 respiratory disease, commandeer host biosynthetic machineries and mechanisms. Three major structural proteins, the spike, envelope and membrane proteins, are amongst several SARS-CoV-2 components synthesised at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of infected human cells prior to the assembly of new viral particles. Hence, the inhibition of membrane protein synthesis at the ER is an attractive strategy for reducing the pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 and other obligate viral pathogens. Using an in vitro system, we demonstrate that the small molecule inhibitor ipomoeassin F (Ipom-F) potently blocks the Sec61-mediated ER membrane translocation and/or insertion of three therapeutic protein targets for SARS-CoV-2 infection; the viral spike and ORF8 proteins together with angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, the host cell plasma membrane receptor. Our findings highlight the potential for using ER protein translocation inhibitors such as Ipom-F as host-targeting, broad-spectrum antiviral agents.

This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper.

SciScore for 10.1101/2020.11.24.390039: (What is this?)

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

Table 1: Rigor

Institutional Review Board Statement	not detected.
Randomization	not detected.
Blinding	not detected.
Power Analysis	not detected.
Sex as a biological variable	not detected.
Cell Line Authentication	not detected.

Table 2: Resources

Antibodies
Sentences	Resources
Ipom-F and Antibodies: Ipom-F was synthesised as previously described (Zong et al., in press).	Ipom-F suggested: None
Following transfer to a PVDF membrane in transfer buffer (0.06 M Tris, 0.60 M glycine, 20% MeOH) at 300 mA for 2.5 h, PVDF membranes were incubated in 1X Casein blocking buffer (10X stock from Sigma-Aldrich, B6429) made up in TBS, incubated with appropriate primary antibodies (1:500 or 1:1000 dilution) and processed for fluorescence-based …

SciScore for 10.1101/2020.11.24.390039: (What is this?)

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

Table 1: Rigor

Institutional Review Board Statement	not detected.
Randomization	not detected.
Blinding	not detected.
Power Analysis	not detected.
Sex as a biological variable	not detected.
Cell Line Authentication	not detected.

Table 2: Resources

Antibodies
Sentences	Resources
Ipom-F and Antibodies: Ipom-F was synthesised as previously described (Zong et al., in press).	Ipom-F suggested: None
Following transfer to a PVDF membrane in transfer buffer (0.06 M Tris, 0.60 M glycine, 20% MeOH) at 300 mA for 2.5 h, PVDF membranes were incubated in 1X Casein blocking buffer (10X stock from Sigma-Aldrich, B6429) made up in TBS, incubated with appropriate primary antibodies (1:500 or 1:1000 dilution) and processed for fluorescence-based detection as described by LI-COR Biosciences using appropriate secondary antibodies (IRDye 680RD Donkey anti-Goat, IRDye 680RD Donkey anti-Rabbit, IRDye 800CW Donkey anti-Mouse) at 1:10,000 dilution.	B6429 suggested: (LSBio (LifeSpan Cat# LS-B6429-50, RRID:AB_11134145) anti-Goat suggested: (LI-COR Biosciences Cat# 926-68074, RRID:AB_10956736) anti-Rabbit suggested: None anti-Mouse suggested: None
Experimental Models: Cell Lines
Sentences	Resources
ORF6-OPG2, ORF8-OPG2, M-OPG2 and S-OPG2 were generated by inserting the respective cDNAs in frame between NheI and AflII sites of a pcDNA5/FRT/V5-His vector (Invitrogen) containing a C-terminal OPG2 tag (MNGTEGPNFYVPFSNKTG).	S-OPG2 suggested: None
Microsomal translation reactions (20 μL) were performed for 30 min at 30°C whereas those using SP HeLa cells were performed on a 1.5X scale (30 μL translation reactions) for 1 h at 30°C.	HeLa suggested: None

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).

Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

Results from Barzooka: We found bar graphs of continuous data. We recommend replacing bar graphs with more informative graphics, as many different datasets can lead to the same bar graph. The actual data may suggest different conclusions from the summary statistics. For more information, please see Weissgerber et al (2015).

Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

Results from rtransparent:

Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
No protocol registration statement was detected.

Read the original source

Ipomoeassin-F inhibits the in vitro biogenesis of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and its host cell membrane receptor

This article has been Reviewed by the following groups

Listed in

Abstract

Article activity feed