Functional map of SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease reveals tolerant and immutable sites.

The SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease (3CL) is an attractive therapeutic target, as it is essential to the virus and highly conserved among coronaviruses. However, our current understanding of its tolerance to mutations is limited. Here, we develop a yeast-based deep mutational scanning approach to systematically profile the activity of all possible single mutants of the 3CL and validate a subset of our results within authentic viruses.

The Functional Landscape of SARS-CoV-2 3CL Protease.

SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) as the etiologic agent of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) has drastically altered life globally. Numerous efforts have been placed on the development of therapeutics to treat SARS-CoV-2 infection. One particular target is the 3CL protease (3CL ), which holds promise as it is essential to the virus and highly conserved among coronaviruses, suggesting that it may be possible to find broad inhibitors that treat not just SARS-CoV-2 but other coronavirus infections as well.

Hot and Cold Theory: Evidence in Systems Biology.

Systems biology is an emerging discipline in the post-genomic era, increasingly have been applied in bioscience and molecular medicine. The aim of this research field is a systems-level understanding of biological phenomena. In the same vein, a holistic approach to the classification of wellbeing and treatment of illnesses has been applied in traditional medicines.