About this Research Topic
The currently ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has led to more than 140 million total confirmed infections and more than 3 million deaths as of April 2021. Although the availability of a number of vaccines has provided an avenue to start preventing the pandemic from further expanding, the emergence of multiple novel SARS-CoV-2 strains makes it highly risky to rely on just vaccines to contain the pandemic. Current vaccines are targeting the SARS-CoV-2 membrane Spike protein, which happens to be highly mutable. However, SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen in COVID-19 has multiple essential genes that are highly conserved. Targeting them for the development of antivirals is critical to provide not only alternative measures to contain the pandemic, but also necessary medications with lower potential of leading to drug resistance in the virus. This themed topic aims to cover the current progress in targeting SARS-CoV-2 essential proteins for drug discovery.
There are multiple essential proteins for SARS-CoV-2 including Spike, papain-like protease, main protease, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, helicase, etc. By targeting these proteins for the development of small molecule antivirals, many small molecule medications that show high in vivo efficacy have been identified. We will put together a Research Topic that covers the current progress in these developments as Original Research articles or Reviews.
This Research Topic will cover specifically COVID-19 drug discovery and development by targeting essential SARS-CoV-2 proteins including but not limited to Spike, main protease, papain-like protease, and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. Articles covering drug discovery related to small molecules and peptides are especially welcomed.
Computational studies with no experimental validation will not fall under the scope of this collection.
There are multiple essential proteins for SARS-CoV-2 including Spike, papain-like protease, main protease, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, helicase, etc. By targeting these proteins for the development of small molecule antivirals, many small molecule medications that show high in vivo efficacy have been identified. We will put together a Research Topic that covers the current progress in these developments as Original Research articles or Reviews.
This Research Topic will cover specifically COVID-19 drug discovery and development by targeting essential SARS-CoV-2 proteins including but not limited to Spike, main protease, papain-like protease, and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. Articles covering drug discovery related to small molecules and peptides are especially welcomed.
Computational studies with no experimental validation will not fall under the scope of this collection.
Keywords: Drug Discovery, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Main Protease, RNA-Dependent RNA Polymearse
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
