Evaluation of Carbon-Dots (CDs) as Antiviral Candidates Against SARS-CoV-2 Using a Chemical Crosslinking Method

Abstract

The chemical crosslinking method has been effective in previous studies for interaction-based drug screening. Although CDs have been widely explored as antiviral candidates, studies that use chemical crosslinking to select effective CDs against SARS-CoV-2 remain limited. To address this gap, this study uses chemical crosslinking to test CDs as antiviral compounds. The objective of this study is to screen and determine the potential of CDs as candidate antiviral compounds for inhibiting the dimerization of the SARS-CoV-2 N-CTD protein using a chemical crosslinking method. Recombinant SARS-CoV-2 N-CTD protein was expressed, purified, and precipitated for compound testing with chemical crosslinking. The concentration ranges used in the dimerization inhibition testing were 0-2,000 ppm (pyrrolic-N CDs) and 0-6,000 ppm (pyridinic-N, graphitic-N, and nuciferine-derived CDs). The study’s results show that CDs have the potential to inhibit dimerization of the SARS-CoV-2 N-CTD protein. Among the four compounds tested, pyrrolic-N CDs showed the best inhibitory potential, as they inhibited dimerization at the lowest concentration (2,000 ppm), had the smallest percentage of dimer bands to total protein, and achieved the highest dimerization inhibition efficiency. However, further research, including in vitro and in vivo tests, is needed to comprehensively evaluate the potential of pyrrolic-N CDs.