Pre-Steady-State Kinetics of the SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease as a Powerful Tool for Antiviral Drug Discovery.

The design of effective target-specific drugs for COVID-19 treatment has become an intriguing challenge for modern science. The SARS-CoV-2 main protease, M, responsible for the processing of SARS-CoV-2 polyproteins and production of individual components of viral replication machinery, is an attractive candidate target for drug discovery. Specific M inhibitors have turned out to be promising anticoronaviral agents.

Evolution of inhibitor-resistant natural mutant forms of HIV-1 protease probed by pre-steady state kinetic analysis.

Pre-steady state kinetic analysis of mechanistic features of substrate binding and processing is crucial for insight into the evolution of inhibitor-resistant forms of HIV-1 protease. These data may provide a correct vector for rational drug design assuming possible intrinsic dynamic effects. These data should also give some clues to the molecular mechanism of protease action and resistance to inhibitors.

Biodiversity of thermophilic prokaryotes with hydrolytic activities in hot springs of Uzon Caldera, Kamchatka (Russia).

Samples of water from the hot springs of Uzon Caldera with temperatures from 68 to 87 degrees C and pHs of 4.1 to 7.0, supplemented with proteinaceous (albumin, casein, or alpha- or beta-keratin) or carbohydrate (cellulose, carboxymethyl cellulose, chitin, or agarose) biological polymers, were filled with thermal water and incubated at the same sites, with the contents of the tubes freely accessible to the hydrothermal fluid.