scholarly journals Phytochemicals of Rhus spp. as Potential Inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease: Molecular Docking and Drug-Likeness Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Yousery E. Sherif ◽  
Sami A. Gabr ◽  
Nasser M. Hosny ◽  
Ahmad H. Alghadir ◽  
Rayan Alansari

Background. The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) induced by the novel coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) originated in China and spread to cover the entire world with an ongoing pandemic. The magnitude of the situation and the fast spread of the new and deadly virus, as well as the lack of specific treatment, led to a focus on research to discover new therapeutic agents. Aim. In this study, we explore the potential inhibitory effects of some active polyphenolic constituents of Rhus spp. (sumac) against the SARS-CoV-2 main protease enzyme (Mpro; 6LU7). Methods. 26 active polyphenolic compounds of Rhus spp. were studied for their antiviral activity by molecular docking, drug likeness, and synthetic accessibility score (SAS) as inhibitors against the SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. Results. The results show that all tested compounds of sumac provided good interaction with the main active site of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro, with better, lower molecular docking energy (kcal/mol) compared to the well-known drugs chloroquine and favipiravir (Avigan). Only six active polyphenolic compounds of Rhus spp. (sumac), methyl 3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoate, (Z)-1-(2,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-2-hydroxyprop-2-en-1-one, (Z)-2-(3,4-dihydroxybenzylidene)-6-hydroxybenzofuran-3(2H)-one, 3,5,7-trihydroxy-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)chroman-4-one, 2-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-3,5-dihydroxy-7-methoxy-4H-chroman-4-one, and 3,7-dihydroxy-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)chroman-4-one, were proposed by drug likeness, solubility in water, and SAS analysis as potential inhibitors of Mpro that may be used for the treatment of COVID-19. Conclusion. Six phenolic compounds of Rhus spp. are proposed for synthesis as potential inhibitors against Mpro and have potential for the treatment of COVID-19. These results encourage further in vitro and in vivo investigations of the proposed ligands and research on the preventive use of Rhus spp. against SARS-CoV-2.

Author(s):  
Carlos Javier Alméciga-Díaz ◽  
Luisa N. Pimentel-Vera ◽  
Angela Caro ◽  
Angela Mosquera ◽  
Camilo Andrés Castellanos Moreno ◽  
...  

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) was first described in December 2019 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China; and produced by a novel coronavirus designed as the acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Covid-19 has become a pandemic reaching over 1.3 million confirmed cases and 73,000 deaths. Several efforts have been done to identify pharmacological agents that can be used to treat patients and protect healthcare professionals. The sequencing of the virus genome not only has offered the possibility to develop a vaccine, but also to identified and characterize the virus proteins. Among these proteins, main protease (Mpro) has been identified as a potential therapeutic target, since it is essential for the processing other viral proteins. Crystal structures of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro and inhibitors has been described during the last months. To describe additional compounds that can inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Mpro, in this study we performed a molecular docking-based virtual screening against a library of experimental and approved drugs. Top 10 hits included Pictilisib, Nimorazole, Ergoloid mesylates, Lumacaftor, Cefuroxime, Cepharanhine, and Nilotinib. These compounds were predicted to have higher binding affinity for SARS-CoV-2 Mpro than previously reported inhibitors for this protein, suggesting a higher potential to inhibit virus replication. Since the identified drugs have both pre-clinical and clinical information, we consider that these results may contribute to the identification of treatment alternative for Covid-19. Nevertheless, in vitro and in vivo confirmation should be performed before these compounds could be translated to the clinic.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
pooja singh ◽  
Angkita Sharma ◽  
Shoma Paul Nandi

<p>Within the span of a few months, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2), has proven to be a pandemic, affecting the world at an exponential rate. It is extremely pathogenic and causes communicable infection in humans. Viral infection causes difficulties in breathing, sore throat, cough, high fever, muscle pain, diarrhea, dyspnea, and may lead to death. Finding a proper drug and vaccines against this virus is the need of the hour. The RNA genome of COVID19 codes for the main protease M<sup>pro</sup>, which is required for viral multiplication. To identify possible antiviral drug(s), we performed molecular docking studies. Our screen identified ten biomolecules naturally present in <i>Aspergillus flavus</i> and <i>Aspergillus oryzae</i> fungi. These molecules include Aspirochlorine, Aflatoxin B1, Alpha-Cyclopiazonic acid, Sporogen, Asperfuran, Aspergillomarasmine A, Maltoryzine, Kojic acid, Aflatrem and Ethyl 3-nitropropionic acid, arranged in the descending order of their docking score. Aspirochlorine exhibited the docking score of – 7.18 Kcal/mole, higher than presently used drug Chloroquine (-6.2930522 Kcal/mol) and out of ten ligands studied four has docking score higher than chloroquine. These natural bioactive compounds could be tested for their ability to inhibit viral growth <i>in- vitro</i> and <i>in-vivo</i>.<b> </b></p>


2022 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. e6511124334
Author(s):  
Daniela Ribeiro Alves ◽  
Matheus Nunes da Rocha ◽  
Camila Caldas Oliveira Passos ◽  
Márcia Machado Marinho ◽  
Emmanuel Silva Marinho ◽  
...  

Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease outbreak caused a worldwide pandemic with a powerful lethal potential and still, there is no specific treatment to it. Natural bioactive molecules like curcumins were investigated in this work aiming to block the active site of COVID-19 Main protease (Mpro), since they present several biological activities, being more suitable in terms of fewer side effects, once this disease overloads the immune system of patients. Hereby, curcumin and several derivatives were screened for their ability to react with Mpro receptors (PDB: 6LU7). N3, Azithromycin (AZT), and Baracitinib (BRT) were evaluated as positive controls and in combined therapeutics possibilities with curcumins. N3, AZT, and BRT bound to different protein receptors, and also it was observed that N3 bound in the same site as hexahydrocurcumin and curcumin glucuronide bound at the AZT’s site and bisdemethoxycurcumin, curcumin, curcumin sulfate, cyclocurcumin, demethoxycurcumin, dihydrocurcumin and hexahydrocurcuminol bound at BRT’s site. All molecules analyzed have high force interaction fields. Once the viral activity is mainly intracellular, these compounds also were evaluated for their hydropathic abilities. All molecules were classified and considered capable of membrane cell invading. These results suggest that the therapeutic approach of the curcumin derivatives associated with AZT and the antiviral inhibitor N3 is promissory for future evaluation of their synergism in in vitro and in vivo tests to define their additional viability in the treatment of COVID-19.


Author(s):  
MANOJ GADEWAR ◽  
BHARAT LAL

Objective: The aim of present investigation is docking of various existing antiviral, anti-tubercular and anti-malarial drugs on 6LU7 receptor of SARS-CoV-2 in the treatment of COVID-19. Methods: In this study, the structure of coronavirus binding protein and ligands for various drugs were collected from the protein data bank and pub chem. Molecular docking was carried out using Schrodinger 9.0 software. In molecular docking study, 19 different drugs of various categories like antiviral, anti-malarial and anti-tubercular were investigated for analyzing binding to 6LU7 receptors of COVID-19. Results: The docking result showed a high affinity of zanamivir, montelukast, ramdesvir, ritonavir, cobicistat and favipravir to the 6LU7 receptor of novel coronavirus. Thus the combination of these drugs may be useful in preventing further infection and can be used as a potential target for further in vitro and in vivo studies of SARS-CoV-2. Conclusion: Treatment of COVID-19 has been challenge due to the non-availability of effective drug therapy. In this study, we reported drugs for targeting 6LU7 Mpro/3Clpro protein, which showed prominent effects as potential inhibitors of COVID-19 Mpro.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
pooja singh ◽  
Angkita Sharma ◽  
Shoma Paul Nandi

<p>Within the span of a few months, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2), has proven to be a pandemic, affecting the world at an exponential rate. It is extremely pathogenic and causes communicable infection in humans. Viral infection causes difficulties in breathing, sore throat, cough, high fever, muscle pain, diarrhea, dyspnea, and may lead to death. Finding a proper drug and vaccines against this virus is the need of the hour. The RNA genome of COVID19 codes for the main protease M<sup>pro</sup>, which is required for viral multiplication. To identify possible antiviral drug(s), we performed molecular docking studies. Our screen identified ten biomolecules naturally present in <i>Aspergillus flavus</i> and <i>Aspergillus oryzae</i> fungi. These molecules include Aspirochlorine, Aflatoxin B1, Alpha-Cyclopiazonic acid, Sporogen, Asperfuran, Aspergillomarasmine A, Maltoryzine, Kojic acid, Aflatrem and Ethyl 3-nitropropionic acid, arranged in the descending order of their docking score. Aspirochlorine exhibited the docking score of – 7.18 Kcal/mole, higher than presently used drug Chloroquine (-6.2930522 Kcal/mol) and out of ten ligands studied four has docking score higher than chloroquine. These natural bioactive compounds could be tested for their ability to inhibit viral growth <i>in- vitro</i> and <i>in-vivo</i>.<b> </b></p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trina Ekawati Tallei ◽  
Fatimawali ◽  
Afriza Yelnetty ◽  
Rinaldi Idroes ◽  
Diah Kusumawaty ◽  
...  

The rapid spread of a novel coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 has compelled the entire world to seek ways to weaken this virus, prevent its spread and also eliminate it. However, no drug has been approved to treat COVID-19. Furthermore, the receptor-binding domain (RBD) on this viral spike protein, as well as several other important parts of this virus, have recently undergone mutations, resulting in new virus variants. While no treatment is currently available, a naturally derived molecule with known antiviral properties could be used as a potential treatment. Bromelain is an enzyme found in the fruit and stem of pineapples. This substance has been shown to have a broad antiviral activity. In this article, we analyse the ability of bromelain to counteract various variants of the SARS-CoV-2 by targeting bromelain binding on the side of this viral interaction with human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) using molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation approaches. We have succeeded in making three-dimensional configurations of various RBD variants using protein modelling. Bromelain exhibited good binding affinity toward various variants of RBDs and binds right at the binding site between RBDs and hACE2. This result is also presented in the modelling between Bromelain, RBD, and hACE2. The molecular dynamics (MD) simulations study revealed significant stability of the bromelain and RBD proteins separately up to 100 ns with an RMSD value of 2 Å. Furthermore, despite increases in RMSD and changes in Rog values of complexes, which are likely due to some destabilized interactions between bromelain and RBD proteins, two proteins in each complex remained bonded, and the site where the two proteins bind remained unchanged. This finding indicated that bromelain could have an inhibitory effect on different SARS-CoV-2 variants, paving the way for a new SARS-CoV-2 inhibitor drug. However, more in vitro and in vivo research on this potential mechanism of action is required.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rounak Chourasia ◽  
Srichandan Padhi ◽  
Loreni Chiring Phukon ◽  
Md Minhajul Abedin ◽  
Sudhir P. Singh ◽  
...  

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by novel SARS-CoV-2 has resulted in an unprecedented loss of lives and economy around the world. In this study, search for potential inhibitors against two of the best characterized SARS-CoV-2 drug targets: S1 glycoprotein receptor-binding domain (RBD) and main protease (3CLPro), was carried out using the soy cheese peptides. A total of 1,420 peptides identified from the cheese peptidome produced using Lactobacillus delbrueckii WS4 were screened for antiviral activity by employing the web tools, AVPpred, and meta-iAVP. Molecular docking studies of the selected peptides revealed one potential peptide “KFVPKQPNMIL” that demonstrated strong affinity toward significant amino acid residues responsible for the host cell entry (RBD) and multiplication (3CLpro) of SARS-CoV-2. The peptide was also assessed for its ability to interact with the critical residues of S1 RBD and 3CLpro of other β-coronaviruses. High binding affinity was observed toward critical amino acids of both the targeted proteins in SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and HCoV-HKU1. The binding energy of KFVPKQPNMIL against RBD and 3CLpro of the four viruses ranged from −8.45 to −26.8 kcal/mol and −15.22 to −22.85 kcal/mol, respectively. The findings conclude that cheese, produced by using Lb. delbrueckii WS4, could be explored as a prophylactic food for SARS-CoV-2 and related viruses. In addition, the multi-target inhibitor peptide, which effectively inhibited both the viral proteins, could further be used as a terminus a quo for the in vitro and in vivo function against SARS-CoV-2.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Son Tung Ngo ◽  
Ngoc Quynh Anh Pham ◽  
Ly Le ◽  
Duc-Hung Pham ◽  
Van Vu

<p>The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has infected over 850,000 people and caused more than 42000 deaths worldwide as of April 1<sup>st</sup>, 2020. As the disease is spreading rapidly all over the world, it is urgent to find effective drugs to treat the virus. The main protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2 is one of the potential drug targets. In this work, we used rigorous computational methods, including molecular docking, fast pulling of ligand (FPL), and free energy perturbation (FEP), to investigate potential inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. We first tested our approach with three reported inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro; and our computational results are in good agreement with the respective experimental data. Subsequently, we applied our approach on a databases of ~4600 natural compounds found in Vietnamese plants, as well as 8 available HIV-1 protease (PR) inhibitors and an aza-peptide epoxide. Molecular docking resulted in a short list of 35 natural compounds, which was subsequently refined using the FPL scheme. FPL simulations resulted in five potential inhibitors, including 3 natural compounds and two available HIV-1 PR inhibitors. Finally, FEP, the most accurate and precise method, was used to determine the absolute binding free energy of these five compounds. FEP results indicate that two natural compounds, <i>cannabisin </i>A and <i>isoacteoside</i>, and an HIV-1 PR inhibitor, <i>darunavir</i>, exhibit large binding free energy to SARS-CoV-2 Mpro, which is larger than that of <b>13b</b>, the most reliable SARS-CoV-2 Mpro inhibitor recently reported. The binding free energy largely arises from van der Waals (vdW) interaction. We also found that Glu166 form H-bonds to all the inhibitors. Replacing Glu166 by an alanine residue leads to ~ 2.0 kcal/mol decreases in the affinity of <i>darunavir </i>to SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. Our results could contribute to the development of potentials drugs inhibiting SARS-CoV-2. </p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
sabri ahmed cherrak ◽  
merzouk hafida ◽  
mokhtari soulimane nassima

A novel (COVID-19) responsible of acute respiratory infection closely related to SARS-CoV has recently emerged. So far there is no consensus for drug treatment to stop the spread of the virus. Discovery of a drug that would limit the virus expansion is one of the biggest challenges faced by the humanity in the last decades. In this perspective, testing existing drugs as inhibitors of the main COVID-19 protease is a good approach.Among natural phenolic compounds found in plants, fruit, and vegetables; flavonoids are the most abundant. Flavonoids, especially in their glycosylated forms, display a number of physiological activities, which makes them interesting to investigate as antiviral molecules.The flavonoids chemical structures were downloaded from PubChem and protease structure 6lu7 was from the Protein Data Bank site. Molecular docking study was performed using AutoDock Vina. Among the tested molecules Quercetin-3-O-rhamnoside showed the highest binding affinity (-9,7 kcal/mol). Docking studies showed that glycosylated flavonoids are good inhibitors for the covid-19 protease and could be further investigated by in vitro and in vivo experiments for further validation.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sona Lyndem ◽  
Sharat Sarmah ◽  
Sourav Das ◽  
Atanu Singha Roy

<p>The dissemination of a novel corona virus, SARS-CoV-2, through rapid human to human transmission has led to a global health emergency. The lack of a vaccine or medication for effective treatment of this disease has made it imperative for developing novel drug discovery approaches. Repurposing of drugs is one such method currently being used to tackle the viral infection. The genome of SARS-CoV-2 replicates due to the functioning of a main protease called M<sup>pro</sup>. By targeting the active site of M<sup>pro</sup> with potential inhibitors, this could prevent viral replication from taking place. Blind docking technique was used to investigate the interactions between 29 naturally occurring coumarin compounds and SARS-CoV-2 main protease, M<sup>pro</sup>, out of which 17 coumarin compounds were seen to bind to the active site through the interaction with the catalytic dyad, His41 and Cys145, along with other neighbouring residues. On comparing the ΔG values of the coumarins bound to the active site of M<sup>pro</sup>, corymbocoumarin belonging to the class pyranocoumarins, methylgalbanate belonging to the class simple coumarins and heraclenol belonging to the class furanocoumarins, displayed best binding efficiency and could be considered as potential M<sup>pro</sup> protease inhibitors. Preliminary screening of these naturally occurring coumarin compounds as potential SARS-CoV-2 replication inhibitors acts as a stepping stone for further <i>in vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i> experimental investigation and analytical validation. </p>


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