Evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 main protease and inhibitor interactions using dihedral angle distributions and radial distribution function

In order to evaluate the interactions between a potential drug candidate like inhibitor N3 and the residues in substrate binding site of SARS-CoV-2 main protease ([Formula: see text]), we used molecular docking and dynamics simulations. The structural features describing the degrees of folding states of [Formula: see text] formed by beta-barrels and alpha-helices were analyzed by means of root mean square deviation, root mean square fluctuation, radius of gyration, residue velocity, H-bonding, dihedral angle distributions and radial distribution function. All of the residues forming ligand binding domain (LBD) of [Formula: see text] lie within the allowed region of the dihedral angle distributions as observed from the equilibrating best pose of [Formula: see text]-N3 system. Sharp peaks of radial distribution function (RDF) for H-bonding atom pairs (about 2 Å radial distance apart) describe the strong interactions between inhibitor and SARS-CoV-2 [Formula: see text]. During MD simulations, HSE163 has the lowest residue speed offering a sharp RDF peak whereas GLN192 has the highest residue speed resulting a flat RDF peak for the H-bonding atom pairs of [Formula: see text]-N3 system. Along with negative values of coulombic and Lenard-Jones energies, MM/PBSA free energy of binding contributed by the non-covalent interactions between [Formula: see text] and N3 has been obtained to be -19.45 ± 3.6 kcal/mol. These physical parameters demonstrate the binding nature of an inhibitor in [Formula: see text]-LBD. This study will be helpful in evaluating the drug candidates which are expected to inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 structural proteins.