Computational Guided Drug Repurposing for Targeting 2'-O-Ribose Methyltransferase of SARS-CoV-2

The recent outbreak of pandemic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has led the world towards global health emergency. Currently no proper medicine or effective treatment strategies are available, therefore repurposing may play an important role in overcoming the situation. The SARS-CoV-2 genome encodes for 2-O-methyltransferase (2’OMTase) which plays a key role in methylation of viral RNA for evading host immune system. In the present study, the protein sequence of 2’OMTase of SARS-CoV-2 was analysed and its structure was modeled by comparative modeling approach and validated. The modeled structure displayed the conserved characteristic fold of class I MTase family. The library of 3000 drugs was screened against the active site of 2’OMTase. The docking analysis displayed that the active site of 2’OMTase accommodates an array of drugs which includes alkaloids, antivirals, cardiac glycosides, anticancer, steroids and other drugs. The results suggested that these drugs may be used potential inhibitors for 2’OMTase for combating the SARS-CoV-2 infection.