Structural basis of anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of hydroxychloroquine: specific binding to NTD/CTD and disruption of LLPS of N protein
In this study, by use of DIC microscopy and NMR spectroscopy, for the first time we have decoded that HCQ specifically binds to both N-terminal domain (NTD) and C-terminal domain (CTD) of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid (N) protein to inhibit their interactions with nucleic acids (NAs), as well as to disrupt its NA-induced liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) essential for the viral life cycle including the package of gRNA and N protein into new virions.