Antivirals for allosteric inhibition of Zika virus using a homology model and experimentally determined structure of envelope protein

Sandun Fernando, Teshan Fernando

An approach to inhibiting enveloped flaviviruses is to deter the ability of the envelope protein(s) binding onto glycoproteins. In previous work, using a small ~100-amino acid homology model of Zika virus envelope protein (ZVEP), we proved the susceptibility of Zika virus to inhibition. In this work, we verify the efficacy of the homology model based antiviral search method using a larger protein (>400 amino acids) and comparing the results with the experimentally determined one (PDB ID:5IRE). By examining how glycan molecules, small-molecule probes and screened ligands that have a high affinity to ZVEP, we report the mechanics of ZVEP to inhibition via allosteric blockage of the glycan-binding domain while proposing even more possibly potent inhibitors. The small molecular probes based study using the homology model and subsequently verified using actual experimental structure, 5IRE, revealed that ZVEP is druggable. A pharmacophore analysis followed by screening showed at least four ligands that allosterically binds to the glycan binding domain constituted by residues VAL 153 and ASN 154 in 5IRE. Based on further selection criteria ZINC40621658 was identified to have high potential to be a strong antiviral candidate for Zika virus inhibition.