Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic study of Feline infectious peritonitis virus main protease in complex with an inhibitor.

Feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV) causes a lethal systemic granulomatous disease in wild and domestic cats around the world. Currently, no effective vaccines or drugs have been developed against it. As a member of the genus Alphacoronavirus, FIPV encodes two polyprotein precursors required for genome replication and transcription. Each polyprotein undergoes extensive proteolytic processing, resulting in functional subunits. This process is mainly mediated by its genome-encoded main protease, which is an attractive target for antiviral drug design. In this study, the main protease of FIPV in complex with a Michael acceptor-type inhibitor was crystallized. The complex crystals diffracted to 2.5 Å resolution and belonged to space group I422, with unit-cell parameters a = 112.3, b = 112.3, c = 102.1 Å. There is one molecule per asymmetric unit.