The CoV Mpro proteins were further purified on a HiTrap Q hp (GE Healthcare), and the Q-flow-through material was concentrated and loaded onto a 26/60 Superdex-75 (GE Healthcare) gel filtration column equilibrated with Buffer B (20 mM Tris pH 7.8 + 150 mM NaCl + 1 mM EDTA + 1 mM DTT).