scholarly journals Identification of Persuasive Antiviral Natural Compounds for COVID-19 by Targeting Endoribonuclease NSP15: A Structural-Bioinformatics Approach

Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (23) ◽  
pp. 5657
Author(s):  
Mohd Saeed ◽  
Amir Saeed ◽  
Md Jahoor Alam ◽  
Mousa Alreshidi

SARS-CoV-2 is a positive-stranded RNA virus that bundles its genomic material as messenger-sense RNA in infectious virions and replicates these genomes through RNA intermediates. Several virus-encoded nonstructural proteins play a key role during the viral life cycle. Endoribonuclease NSP15 is vital for the replication and life cycle of the virus, and is thus considered a compelling druggable target. Here, we performed a combination of multiscoring virtual screening and molecular docking of a library of 1624 natural compounds (Nuclei of Bioassays, Ecophysiology and Biosynthesis of Natural Products (NuBBE) database) on the active sites of NSP15 (PDB:6VWW). After sequential high-throughput screening by LibDock and GOLD, docking optimization by CDOCKER, and final scoring by calculating binding energies, top-ranked compounds NuBBE-1970 and NuBBE-242 were further investigated via an indepth molecular-docking and molecular-dynamics simulation of 60 ns, which revealed that the binding of these two compounds with active site residues of NSP15 was sufficiently strong and stable. The findings strongly suggest that further optimization and clinical investigations of these potent compounds may lead to effective SARS-CoV-2 treatment.

Author(s):  
Rana Adnan Tahir ◽  
Sumera Mughal ◽  
Amina Nazir ◽  
Asma Noureen ◽  
Ayesha Jawad ◽  
...  

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an enveloped and positive-stranded RNA virus that is a major causative agent of chronic liver diseases worldwide. HCV has become the main cause of liver transplantations and there is no effective drug for all hepatitis genotypes. Elucidation of life cycle and nonstructural proteins of HCV involved in viral replication are the attractive targets for the development of antiviral drugs. Methods: In this work, pharmacoinformatics approaches coupled with docking analyses were applied on HCV nonstructural proteins to identify the novel potential hits and HCV drugs. Molecular docking analyses were carried out on HCV approved drugs followed by the ligand-based pharmacophore generation to screen the antiviral libraries for novel potential hits. Results: Virtual screening technique has made known the top-ranked five novel compounds (ZINC00607900, ZINC03635748, ZINC03875543, ZINC04097464, and ZINC12503102) along with the least binding energy (-8.0 kcal/mol, -6.1 kcal/mol, -7.5 kcal/mol, -7.4 kcal/mol, and -7.3 kcal/mol respectively) and stability with non-structural proteins target. Conclusion: These promising hits exhibited better absorption and ADMET properties as compared to the selected drug molecules. These potential compounds extracted from in silico approach may be significant in drug design and development against Hepatitis and other liver diseases.


Author(s):  
Abdulaziz Bin Dukhyil

Aims: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is chronic disorder well known for increased glucose level in blood. This disease can be controlled by inhibiting the enzyme (e.g., α-amylase) involve in carbohydrate hydrolysis. Senna auriculata leaves methanolic extract (SALME) have potential antidiabetic properties and it was also found to be safe in preclinical studies. In this study the aim was to explore the molecular interactions of α-amylase and bioactive compounds in SALME and their physicochemical properties. Methodology: Computational approach such as molecular docking and physicochemical analysis prediction was applied to understand the antidiabetic potential of natural compounds present in SALME. Results: The results showed from physicochemical analysis that out of 11 only 7 compounds are having drug like properties which are orally and intestinally better bioavailable. Furthermore, molecular docking analysis explained that three compounds (C3, C4, and C7) have lower binding energy, ΔG (-8, -9.1, -9.5 kcal/mol) and better binding affinity, Ki (7.31 x 105, 4.68 x 106, and 9.2 x 106 M-1, respectively) than the acarbose ΔG (-7.8 kcal/mol) and Ki (6.18 x 105 M-1), a well-known FDA approved medication for DM. The study also explained the binding pattern that the catalytic residue such as Asp197, Glu233 and Asp300 are involved in stabilizing the natural compounds with in the catalytic active site of target enzyme. Conclusions: From the results it has been concluded that these three compounds found in SALME have better inhibitory potential for α-amylase in comparison with acarbose. Further validation of the findings is required through molecular dynamics simulation, ADME-T study, and in-vitro enzyme inhibition by the purified compounds.


Author(s):  
Md. Asad Ullah ◽  
Bishajit Sarkar ◽  
Syed Sajidul Islam

AbstractEbola virus is a highly pathogenic RNA virus that causes haemorrhagic fever in human. With very high mortality rate, Ebola virus is considered as one of the dangerous viruses in the world. Although, the Ebola outbreaks claimed many lives in the past, no satisfactory treatment or vaccine have been discovered yet to fight against Ebola. For this reason, in this study, various tools of bioinformatics and immunoinformatics were used to design possible vaccines against Zaire Ebola virus strain Mayinga-76. To construct the vaccine, three potential antigenic proteins of the virus, matrix protein VP40, envelope glycoprotein and nucleoprotein were selected against which the vaccines would be designed. The MHC class-I, MHC class-II and B-cell epitopes were determined and after robust analysis through various tools and molecular docking analysis, three vaccine candidates, designated as EV-1, EV-2 and EV-3, were constructed. Since the highly conserved epitopes were used for vaccine construction, these vaccine constructs are also expected to be effective on other strains of Ebola virus like strain Gabon-94 and Kikwit-95. Next, the molecular docking study on these vaccine constructs were analyzed by molecular docking study and EV-1 emerged as the best vaccine construct. Later, molecular dynamics simulation study revealed the good performances as well as good stability of the vaccine protein. Finally, codon adaptation and in silico cloning were conducted to design a possible plasmid (pET-19b plasmid vector was used) for large scale, industrial production of the EV-1 vaccine.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suritra Bandyopadhyay ◽  
Omobolanle Abimbola Abiodun ◽  
Blessing Chinweotito Ogboo ◽  
Adeola Tawakalitu Kola-Mustapha ◽  
Emmanuel Ifeanyi Attah ◽  
...  

<p><b>Background: </b>Medicinal plants, as rich sources of bioactive compounds with antiviral properties, are now being explored for the development of drugs against SARS-CoV-2.</p><p><b>Aims: </b>Identification of promising compounds for the treatment of COVID-19 from natural products via molecular modelling against NSP9, including some other viral and host targets and evaluation of polypharmacological indications.</p><p><b>Main methods: </b>A manually curated library of 521 phytochemicals (from 19 medicinal plants) was virtually screened using Mcule server and binding interactions were studied using DS Visualiser. Docking thresholds were set based on the scores of standard controls and rigorous ADMET properties were used to finally get the potential inhibitors. Free binding energies of the docked complexes were calculated employing MM-GBSA method. MM-GBSA informed our choice for MD simulation studies performed against NSP9 to study the stability of the drug-receptor interaction. NSP9 structure comparison was also performed. </p><p><b>Key findings: </b>Extensive screening of the molecules identified 5 leads for NSP9, 23 for Furin, 18 for ORF3a, and 19 for interleukin-6. Ochnaflavone and Licoflavone B, obtained from Lonicera japonica (Japanese Honeysuckle) and Glycyrrhiza glabra (Licorice), respectively, were identified to have the highest potential multi-target inhibition properties for NSP9, furin, ORF3a, and IL-6. Additionally, molecular dynamics simulation supports the robust stability of Ochnaflavone and Licoflavone B against NSP9 at the active sites via hydrophobic interactions, H-bonding, and H-bonding facilitated by water.</p><b>Significance:</b> These compounds with the highest drug-like ranking against multiple viral and host targets have the potential to be drug candidates for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection that may possibly act on multiple pathways simultaneously to inhibit viral entry and replication as well as disease progression.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 249-265
Author(s):  
Selvaraj Ayyamperumal ◽  

The enzyme, α-topoisomerase II (α-Topo II), is known to regulate efficiently the topology of DNA. It is highly expressed in rapidly proliferating cells and plays an important role in replication, transcription and chromosome organisation. This has prompted several investigators to pursue α-Topo II inhibitors as anticancer agents. δ-Carboline, a natural product, and its synthetic derivatives are known to exert potent anticancer activity by selectively targeting α-Topo II. Therefore, it is of interest to design carboline derivatives fused with pyrrolidine-2,5-dione in this context. δ-Carbolines fused with pyrrolidine-2,5-dione are of interest because the succinimide part of fused heteroaromatic molecule can interact with the ATP binding pocket via the hydrogen bond network with selectivity towards α-Topo II. The 300 derivatives designed were subjected to the Lipinski rule of 5, ADMET and toxicity prediction. The designed compounds were further analysed using molecular docking analysis on the active sites of the α-Topo II crystal structure (PDB ID:1ZXM). Molecular dynamic simulations were also performed to compare the binding mode and stability of the protein-ligand complexes. Compounds with ID numbers AS89, AS104, AS119, AS209, AS239, AS269, and AS299 show good binding activity compared to the co-crystal ligand. Molecular Dynamics simulation studies show that the ligand binding to α-Topo II in the ATP domain is stableand the protein-ligand conformation remains unchanged. Binding free energy calculations suggest that seven molecules designed are potential inhibitors for α-Topo II for further consideration as anticancer agents.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 536-545
Author(s):  
Arun D. SHARMA ◽  
Inderjeet KAUR

SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), member of corona virus family, is a positive single stranded RNA virus. Due to lack of drugs it is spreading its tentacles across the world. Being associated with cough, fever, and respiratory distress, this disease caused more than 15% mortality worldwide. Mpro/3CLpro has recently been regarded as a suitable target for drug design due to its vital role in virus replication. The current study focused on the inhibitory activity of eucalyptol (1,8 cineole), an essential oil component from eucalyptus oil, against Mpro/3CLprofrom SARS-CoV-2. Till date there is no work is undertaken on in-silico analysis of this compound against Mpro/3CLproof SARS-CoV-2. Molecular docking studies were conducted by using 1-click dock tool and Patchdock analysis. In-silico absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity (ADMET) profile were also studied. The calculated parameters such as docking score indicated effective binding of eucalyptol to COVID-19 Mpro protein. Active site prediction revealed the involvement of active site residues in ligand binding. Interactions results indicated that, Mpro/3CLpro/eucalyptol complexes forms hydrophobic interactions. ADMET studies provided guidelines and mechanistic scope for identification of potent anti-COVID 19 drug. Therefore, eucalyptol may represent potential herbal treatment to act as COVID-19 Mpro/3CLproinhibitor, a finding which must be validated in vivo.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 993-1000 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Anusha ◽  
S. Sharanya ◽  
Ramya Ramya ◽  
Darling Chellathai David

The lymphomas are a heterogeneous group of cancer of the lymphocytes and the lymphatic system and accounts for up to 3% of all malignancies.1 Most of the drugs currently used for the treatment of lymphoma produce various side effects, hence in this study, we focus on natural compounds, obtained from the medicinal plant Vitex negundo, which exhibits selective toxicity against cancer cells. The objective of this research was to formulate the binding energies and interaction of selected phytochemicals present in the medicinal plant Vitex negundo2 against anaplastic lymphoma kinase protein, which is overexpressed in an anaplastic large cell lymphoma.3, 4,5 The structure of mutant human anaplastic lymphoma kinase protein was retrieved from the Protein Data Bank (PDB ID:4ANL ) and the 3D chemical structure of the phytochemicals present in the medicinal plant Vitex negundo was obtained from the PubChem database. Molecular docking study was performed for these natural compounds to evaluate and analyze their anti-lymphoma-cancer activity. A total of 16 compounds present in Vitex negundo, based on a comprehensive literature survey was selected for this molecular screening. Molecular docking analysis was carried out by Molegro Virtual Docker software, to screen the 16 chosen compounds and rank them according to their binding affinity towards the site of interaction of the oncoprotein, anaplastic lymphoma kinase. Out of the 16 screened phytocompounds, only 4 compounds showed promising interactions against the oncoprotein ALK (4ANL). 6’-p-hydroxybenzoyl mussaenosidic acid exhibited a very good binding with a molecular docking score of -127.723 kcal/mol, ranking first among the compounds screened. This was followed by Betulinic acid, Viridiflorol and protocatechuic acid with molecular docking scores of -95.596 kcal/mol, -76.1648 kcal/mol and -63.0854 kcal/mol and - respectively. The docking scores from the above study shows that the phytocompounds present in Vitex negundo extract exhibits an effective inhibitory effect against anaplastic lymphoma kinase protein that is over expressed in lymphoma.


Molecules ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 469
Author(s):  
Nasirudeen Idowu Abdulrashid ◽  
Suleiman Aminu ◽  
Rahma Muhammad Adamu ◽  
Nasir Tajuddeen ◽  
Murtala Bindawa Isah ◽  
...  

Sub-Saharan Africa is profoundly challenged with African Animal Trypanosomiasis and the available trypanocides are faced with drawbacks, necessitating the search for novel agents. Herein, the chemotherapeutic potential of phloroglucinol on T. congolense infection and its inhibitory effects on the partially purified T. congolense sialidase and phospholipase A2 (PLA2) were investigated. Treatment with phloroglucinol for 14 days significantly (p < 0.05) suppressed T. congolense proliferation, increased animal survival and ameliorated anemia induced by the parasite. Using biochemical and histopathological analyses, phloroglucinol was found to prevent renal damages and splenomegaly, besides its protection against T. congolense-associated increase in free serum sialic acids in infected animals. Moreover, the compound inhibited bloodstream T. congolense sialidase via mixed inhibition pattern with inhibition binding constant (Ki) of 0.181 µM, but a very low uncompetitive inhibitory effects against PLA2 (Ki > 9000 µM) was recorded. Molecular docking studies revealed binding energies of −4.9 and −5.3 kcal/mol between phloroglucinol with modeled sialidase and PLA2 respectively, while a 50 ns molecular dynamics simulation using GROMACS revealed the sialidase-phloroglucinol complex to be more compact and stable with higher free binding energy (−67.84 ± 0.50 kJ/mol) than PLA2-phloroglucinol complex (−77.17 ± 0.52 kJ/mol), based on MM-PBSA analysis. The sialidase-phloroglucinol complex had a single hydrogen bond interaction with Ser453 while none was observed for the PLA2-phloroglucinol complex. In conclusion, phloroglucinol showed moderate trypanostatic activity with great potential in ameliorating some of the parasite-induced pathologies and its anti-anemic effects might be linked to inhibition of sialidase rather than PLA2.


PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e7684 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aysel Aslanli ◽  
Elena Efremenko

Background Enzymatic hydrolysis of N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs), which are signaling molecules responsible for the development of antibiotic resistance in gram-negative bacteria, is a potential solution to overcoming antibiotic resistance problem. It has been established that hexahistidine-tagged organophosphorus hydrolase (His6-OPH) exhibits lactonase activity against a number of AHLs and that the combined application of His6-OPH with β-lactam antibiotics leads to an increase in the efficiency of the action of both the enzyme and antibiotics. The use of computational methods can be an effective way to search for and select from the known antibiotics to find the most rational “partners” for combining with this enzyme and creating effective antibacterial agents with a dual (lactonase and antibacterial) functional activity. Methods In this study, by using AutoDock Vina and Gromacs softwares the molecular docking and the molecular dynamics methods were adopted to simulate models of puromycin, ceftiofur, and/or AHLs docked to the surface of a dimer molecule of His6-OPH and to study their binding properties. GABEDIT and GAMESS-US packages were used to generate and simulate electron densities of docked AHLs. Results Interactions of N-butyryl-DL-homoserine lactone (C4-HSL), N-(3-oxooctanoyl)-L-homoserine lactone (C8-HSL) and N-(3-oxododecanoyl)-L-homoserine lactone (C12-HSL) with His6-OPH dimer active sites in the presence of puromycin and ceftiofur were simulated and studied. The possible intersection of long-chain AHLs with antibiotic molecules in the active sites of the enzyme was revealed. The binding energies of antibiotics and AHLs with the His6-OPH surface were estimated. Statistically significant differences (p = 0.003) were observed between the values calculated for both C4-HSL and C12-HSL, whereas there were no statistically significant differences between the values of the other groups (p ≥ 0.100). The binding energies of AHLs with His6-OPH were slightly higher as compared with the binding energies of antibiotics with the enzyme. The dynamics of the most probable models obtained from docking were investigated. RMSD and RMSF analysis of His6-OPH-AHL complexes in the absence and presence of antibiotics were performed. The interaction energy values of antibiotics and AHLs with the His6-OPH were assessed. Significant increase of the AHLs steadiness in enzyme-substrate complexes in the presence of antibiotics was revealed. The interaction between His6-OPH and C12-HSL was established as thermodynamically more favored. Conclusions It has been established that the studied antibiotics puromycin and ceftiofur steady the enzyme-substrate complexes, but at the same time lead to a decrease in the long-chain AHL-hydrolytic activity of His6-OPH in such a combination as compared to a native enzyme, and, therefore, it should be taken into account when creating a therapeutic composition based on combining antibiotics with His6-OPH.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 9848-9861

At present world is lurching under the spread of new SARS-CoV-2 infection. The treatment is still elusive despite the relentless effort by the scientists against various viral structures. Whereas the 3-Chymotrypsin-like proteases cleave polyproteins and structural proteins help in viral replication. At the same time, non-structural proteins stimulate mRNA cap methylation to evade the immune response. The present study aims to identify novel dual inhibitor compounds with potential hits simultaneously against any of these three targets, including 3C-like proteases, N-protein, and NSP16 through virtual screening, molecular docking approach, and molecular dynamics. Such dual inhibitors may provide the necessary treatment to alleviate the current pandemic. We screened 265 FDA approved infectious disease drugs against three types of Covid-19 targets, i.e., 3C-like proteinase (6w63), N-protein (6vyo), and Non-structural protein 16 (6w4h) using a computer-assisted drug repurposing approach in this study. The Schrodinger suite 2019 is employed for high throughput screening, molecular docking, and binding free energy through the Glide module. We sorted 27 drugs, out of which the best common three drugs were suggested based on their virtual statistics parameters. We found three drugs that belonged to two main categories as dual inhibitors. The Plazomicin (Aminoglycoside) and Cefiderocol (Cephalosporins) are an antibiotic group of drugs, and the Vanganciclovir is antiviral. The molecular dynamics simulation studies over 30000ps for Plazomicin against NSP16 was conducted based on their promising docking scores profile. The RMSD parameter remained stable at 2.5Å for ligands for 30000ps. Thus these three compounds can be validated as a SARS-CoV-2 therapy through clinical trials.


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