RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerases and Their Emerging Roles in Antiviral Therapy

Abstract Viruses are the causative agents leading to variety of diseases. The viral RdRPs are the attractive targets for antiviral therapy. This chapter presents a collective view on the structure and ligand-based drug design for the inhibition of viral RdRPs. It also highlights the structural aspects of various RdRPs. Interestingly, all these enzymes share structural similarities but certain significantly different structural features may be vital to design their selective inhibitors. The chapter also introduces the readers with different classes of RdRP inhibitors, i.e., nucleoside and nonnucleoside inhibitors involving various scaffolds such as Anthranilic acid, Benzimidazole, Benzothiadiazine Indole, Proline sulfonamide, Pyrrolidine diacids, and Pyridobenzothiazole. This chapter is thus prelude to the remaining chapters in this book, which deal with the viral RdRPs.