FIG. 1.

Structure and sequence of SARS-CoV-2 PLpro in comparison to SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV PLpros. a) X-ray crystal structure of SARS-CoV PLpro (in gray, PDB 2FE8¹³), MERS-Cov PLpro (in salmon, PDB 4RNA²⁴) overlaid on SARS-CoV-2 PLpro (in green; PDB 6W9C, Osipiuk, Joachimiak et al.,to be published). b) The thumb (residues 63–182), palm (residues 241–314) and fingers (residues 183–240) subdomains of SARS-CoV-2 PLpro are shown in different colors. The Cys and His residues are represented by yellow and blue spheres, respectively. The active site is also shown in a zoomed-in view, with the catalytic His, Cys, and Asp sidechains represented by the stick model and the BL2 loop (G266–G271) colored red. c) Sequence similarity and identity between SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, and MERS-CoV PLpros. The sequence alignment of a part of the thumb and palm subdomains is shown.