Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Enteroviruses cause a range of human and animal diseases, some life-threatening, but there remain no licenced anti-enterovirus drugs. However, a benzene-sulfonamide derivative and related compounds have been shown recently to block infection of a range of enteroviruses by binding the capsid at a positively-charged surface depression conserved across many enteroviruses. It has also been established that glutathione is essential for the assembly of many enteroviruses, interacting with the capsid proteins to facilitate the formation of the pentameric assembly intermediate, although the mechanism is unknown. Here we show, by high resolution structure analyses of enterovirus F3, that reduced glutathione binds to the same interprotomer pocket as the benzene-sulfonamide derivative. Bound glutathione makes strong interactions with adjacent protomers, thereby explaining the underlying biological role of this druggable binding pocket and delineating the pharmacophore for potential antivirals.

Original publication

DOI

10.1038/s42003-019-0722-x

Type

Journal article

Journal

Communications biology

Publication Date

03/01/2020

Volume

3

Addresses

1Division of Structural Biology, University of Oxford, The Henry Wellcome Building for Genomic Medicine, Headington, Oxford OX3 7BN UK.