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The N-Finger Peptide of SARS-CoV 3CLpro is Essential for the Enzyme Activity
Sun-Hua Zhang1,2*, Ming-Fang Ji3, Xiao-Xia Shao2
1Department of Biology, School of Life Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China;2Institute of Protein Research, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China;3Scino Pharm Kunshan Biochemical Ltd. Co, Kunsh
Abstract: The genes encoding 3CL protease (3CLpro) of SARS virus and its mutant 3CLpro(Δ1-7) were constructed and expressed in E.coli system. The 3CLpro showed a proteolytic activity on the fluorogenic substrate containing the consensus auto-cleavage site of 3CLpro. However， the 3CLpro(Δ1-7) mutant showed no enzymatic activity at the same conditions as wild type did， indicating that the N-finger peptide of 3CLpro is essential for the enzymatic activity though it is not the enzyme reactive center. We also synthesized the N-finger peptide by solid-phase peptide synthesis method and this peptide showed partially inhibitory effect on the SARS 3CL protease.
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