{
  "abstract": "Permeable cyclic-minipeptide-conformer candidates were computationally co-generated with the aim of shielding the protected prefusion-loops (FL) of the envelop E2E1 protein heterodimers of chikungunya virus (CHIKV). This work attempts to prevent some of the earliest pH-dependent dissociation E2E1 events which trigger CHIKV fusion/ infectivity by fully exposing their FL. To co-generate de novo candidates, a minimized prefusion CHIKV E2E1 (minE2E1) model including minimal E2-protective and E1-FL sequences was targeted by BoltzGen. The advantages of the cogenerated top-affinity nanoMolar candidates include higher affinities compared to previous neutralizing peptides, easier chemical synthesis, low antigenicity and strong conformer stabilities. Top-affinity parents were computationally mutated to derive thousands of membrane-permeable candidates conserving their cyclization, targets and affinities. A few membrane-permeable top-affinity candidates may serve for experimentally-guided validation of possible inhibition of CHIKV fusion and infection.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 1,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Julio Coll",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8496-3493"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dg1sjy6f82d34.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15009994/v1",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "dg1sjy6f82d34",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009994/v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "1312|Chemical Synthesis and Analysis"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7220725804",
  "pdf_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/pdf/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009994/v1",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-06",
  "publisher": "American Chemical Society (ACS)",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dg1sjy6f82d34.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:22Z",
      "native_id": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15009994",
      "source": "chemrxiv",
      "url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009994/v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biochemistry",
      "origin": "openalex:1312|Chemical Synthesis and Analysis",
      "subfield": "molecular-biology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Computational shielding of chikungunya viral prefusion with permeable cyclic-minipeptides",
  "title_text": "Computational shielding of chikungunya viral prefusion with permeable cyclic-minipeptides",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:22Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dg1sjy6f82d34",
  "venue": "ChemRxiv",
  "versions": []
}