Design and selection of peptides to block the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain by molecular docking

• Kendra Ramirez-Acosta,
• Ivan A. Rosales-Fuerte,
• J. Eduardo Perez-Sanchez,
• Alfredo Nuñez-Rivera,
• Josue Juarez and
• Ruben D. Cadena-Nava

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 699–711, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.62

• viruses. Keywords: angiotensin converting enzyme-2 (ACE2); antiviral peptides; hydrogen bonds; molecular docking; SARS-CoV-2 RBD; Introduction The current pandemic due to coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), caused by the novel virus SARS-CoV-2, has over 533 million of confirmed cases and over 6.3 million

• fatalities over the five continents by June 15, 2022 [1]. It is known, that the entry of the SARS-CoV into the host cell begins with the binding of the RBD, which is part of the spike (S) glycoprotein, to the angiotensin converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) cellular receptor of the host cells [2][3][4]. Similarly, the