The rapid spread and infection rate of novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has created a worldwide pandemic since its origin in 2019. Another concern for improvement in controlling the infection is the non-availability of effective medications against the virus. So, these challenges generate the general scientific interest to focus on the development of novel drug molecules that can prevent viral propagation. The virus contains an RNA helicase enzyme known as nonstructural protein 13 (sp 13), a critical viral replication regulator. Hence this enzyme can be used as a target so that the potential inhibitor molecules can be used to stop its function. Furthermore, the virus is related to other members of the Coronaviridae family, for which inhibitor molecules are available. Recently, the crystallographic structure of the nsp13 of SARS-CoV-2 has been resolved and is available in the protein data bank (PDB). Hence, this information provides the opportunity to apply several computational and experimental approaches to elucidate the enzyme's functional aspects and help to propose new inhibitor molecules. Several natural products, synthetic compounds, and previously proven effective compounds have been studied for their binding affinity and inhibition properties of the molecule. This review presents the basic idea about the genomic arrangement and structural and functional aspects of the RNA helicase enzyme of SARS-CoV-2. Also, the inhibition strategies of the enzyme by the inhibitor molecules along with challenges have been highlighted by narrating the recent literature.
