Abstract
Herein, we designed a nano peptide that contains three important motifs for targeting the chemotrypsin-like cysteine protease (3CLpro) which is the enzyme responsible for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) replication. The novel nano peptide contains the Nap Phe-Phe motif that is responsible for peptide self-assembly, an octapeptide (Ser-Ala-Val-Leu-Gln-Ser-Gly-Phe) motif where the enzyme recognizes the substrate and induces enzyme sensitivity, and a tetrapeptide motif which is positively charged containing the peptide (Lys)4 that facilitates penetra-tion into a cell. The nano peptide was characterized using Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (H-NMR) and Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) to confirm its structure.In vitro results showed that the presently formu-IP 2038 10920 On Thu 28 Ju 2022 10:30:11 lated nano peptide was not cytotoxic to fibroblasts for up to 72 hours, bond to 3CLpro, inhibited SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Copyright: American Scientific Publ shers variant virus replication, and was stable for bindingDelfor upveredto onebyweekIngentainculture. In this manner, this timely study demon-strates that this novel nano peptide should be studied for a wide range of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) prophylactic or therapeutic applications.