Figure 2.

Compounds bound to M^pro and their effect on SARS‐CoV‐2 replication in Vero E6 cells. A) Calpeptin (shown in cyan) bound to the M^pro active site (PDB 7AKU). The hydrogen bonds are shown as dashed lines and the thiohemiacetal covalent bond with Cys145 is also highlighted. B) The binding mode of Pelitinib (shown in green) to the first allosteric binding site of M^pro (PDB 7AXM). The viral RNA (v‐RNA) yield (filled circles), viral titers (half‐filled circles), and cell viability (empty circles) for Calpeptin (C) and Pelitinib (D); for each, the EC₅₀ for viral titer reduction is given. ^[7] Portions of this figure are reprinted with permission from ref. [7], Copyright 2021, American Association for the Advancement of Science.