scholarly journals Optimization Rules for SARS-CoV-2 Mpro Antivirals: Ensemble Docking and Exploration of the Coronavirus Protease Active Site

Viruses ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 942 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shana V. Stoddard ◽  
Serena D. Stoddard ◽  
Benjamin K. Oelkers ◽  
Kennedi Fitts ◽  
Kellen Whalum ◽  
...  

Coronaviruses are viral infections that have a significant ability to impact human health. Coronaviruses have produced two pandemics and one epidemic in the last two decades. The current pandemic has created a worldwide catastrophe threatening the lives of over 15 million as of July 2020. Current research efforts have been focused on producing a vaccine or repurposing current drug compounds to develop a therapeutic. There is, however, a need to study the active site preferences of relevant targets, such as the SARS-CoV-2 main protease (SARS-CoV-2 Mpro), to determine ways to optimize these drug compounds. The ensemble docking and characterization work described in this article demonstrates the multifaceted features of the SARS-CoV-2 Mpro active site, molecular guidelines to improving binding affinity, and ultimately the optimization of drug candidates. A total of 220 compounds were docked into both the 5R7Z and 6LU7 SARS-CoV-2 Mpro crystal structures. Several key preferences for strong binding to the four subsites (S1, S1′, S2, and S4) were identified, such as accessing hydrogen binding hotspots, hydrophobic patches, and utilization of primarily aliphatic instead of aromatic substituents. After optimization efforts using the design guidelines developed from the molecular docking studies, the average docking score of the parent compounds was improved by 6.59 −log10(Kd) in binding affinity which represents an increase of greater than six orders of magnitude. Using the optimization guidelines, the SARS-CoV-2 Mpro inhibitor cinanserin was optimized resulting in an increase in binding affinity of 4.59 −log10(Kd) and increased protease inhibitor bioactivity. The results of molecular dynamic (MD) simulation of cinanserin-optimized compounds CM02, CM06, and CM07 revealed that CM02 and CM06 fit well into the active site of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro [Protein Data Bank (PDB) accession number 6LU7] and formed strong and stable interactions with the key residues, Ser-144, His-163, and Glu-166. The enhanced binding affinity produced demonstrates the utility of the design guidelines described. The work described herein will assist scientists in developing potent COVID-19 antivirals.

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 237
Author(s):  
Rakia Abd Alhameed ◽  
Zainab Almarhoon ◽  
Essam N. Sholkamy ◽  
Salman Ali Khan ◽  
Zaheer Ul-Haq ◽  
...  

A novel series of 4,6-disubstituted s-triazin-2-yl amino acid derivatives was prepared and characterized. Most of them showed antifungal activity against Candida albicans compared to clotrimazole (standard drug). Compounds bearing aniline derivatives, piperidine and glycine on the triazine core showed the highest inhibition zones at concentrations of 50, 100, 200, and 300 μg per disc. In addition, docking studies revealed that all the compounds accommodated well in the active site residues of N-myristoltransferase (NMT) and exhibited complementarity, which explains the observed antifungal activity. Interestingly, none of these compounds showed antibacterial activity.


Author(s):  
Yogesh Kumar ◽  
Harvijay Singh

<div>The rapidly enlarging COVID-19 pandemic caused by novel SARS-coronavirus 2 is a global</div><div>public health emergency of unprecedented level. Therefore the need of a drug or vaccine that</div><div>counter SARS-CoV-2 is an utmost requirement at this time. Upon infection the ssRNA genome</div><div>of SARS-CoV-2 is translated into large polyprotein which further processed into different</div><div>nonstructural proteins to form viral replication complex by virtue of virus specific proteases:</div><div>main protease (3-CL protease) and papain protease. This indispensable function of main protease</div><div>in virus replication makes this enzyme a promising target for the development of inhibitors and</div><div>potential treatment therapy for novel coronavirus infection. The recently concluded α-ketoamide</div><div>ligand bound X-ray crystal structure of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro (PDB ID: 6Y2F) from Zhang et al.</div><div>has revealed the potential inhibitor binding mechanism and the determinants responsible for</div><div>involved molecular interactions. Here, we have carried out a virtual screening and molecular</div><div>docking study of FDA approved drugs primarily targeted for other viral infections, to investigate</div><div>their binding affinity in Mpro active site. Virtual screening has identified a number of antiviral</div><div>drugs, top ten of which on the basis of their bending energy score are further examined through </div><div>molecular docking with Mpro. Docking studies revealed that drug Lopinavir-Ritonavir, Tipranavir</div><div>and Raltegravir among others binds in the active site of the protease with similar or higher</div><div>affinity than the crystal bound inhibitor α-ketoamide. However, the in-vitro efficacies of the drug</div><div>molecules tested in this study, further needs to be corroborated by carrying out biochemical and</div><div>structural investigation. Moreover, this study advances the potential use of existing drugs to be</div><div>investigated and used to contain the rapidly expanding SARS-CoV-2 infection.</div>


Author(s):  
Yogesh Kumar ◽  
Harvijay Singh

<div>The rapidly enlarging COVID-19 pandemic caused by novel SARS-coronavirus 2 is a global</div><div>public health emergency of unprecedented level. Therefore the need of a drug or vaccine that</div><div>counter SARS-CoV-2 is an utmost requirement at this time. Upon infection the ssRNA genome</div><div>of SARS-CoV-2 is translated into large polyprotein which further processed into different</div><div>nonstructural proteins to form viral replication complex by virtue of virus specific proteases:</div><div>main protease (3-CL protease) and papain protease. This indispensable function of main protease</div><div>in virus replication makes this enzyme a promising target for the development of inhibitors and</div><div>potential treatment therapy for novel coronavirus infection. The recently concluded α-ketoamide</div><div>ligand bound X-ray crystal structure of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro (PDB ID: 6Y2F) from Zhang et al.</div><div>has revealed the potential inhibitor binding mechanism and the determinants responsible for</div><div>involved molecular interactions. Here, we have carried out a virtual screening and molecular</div><div>docking study of FDA approved drugs primarily targeted for other viral infections, to investigate</div><div>their binding affinity in Mpro active site. Virtual screening has identified a number of antiviral</div><div>drugs, top ten of which on the basis of their bending energy score are further examined through </div><div>molecular docking with Mpro. Docking studies revealed that drug Lopinavir-Ritonavir, Tipranavir</div><div>and Raltegravir among others binds in the active site of the protease with similar or higher</div><div>affinity than the crystal bound inhibitor α-ketoamide. However, the in-vitro efficacies of the drug</div><div>molecules tested in this study, further needs to be corroborated by carrying out biochemical and</div><div>structural investigation. Moreover, this study advances the potential use of existing drugs to be</div><div>investigated and used to contain the rapidly expanding SARS-CoV-2 infection.</div>


Author(s):  
Rajan Rolta ◽  
Deeksha Salaria ◽  
Vikas Kumar ◽  
ANURADHA SOURIRAJAN ◽  
KAMAL DEV

Abstract COVID-19 has been declared as global epidemic and currently there is no drug/vaccine available to treat COVID-19. All over the world, several studies are being conducted to discover the antiviral drugs against COVI-19. Traditional medicinal plants have long history to treat viral infections. We adopted in silico approach to find out if unique phytocompounds such as emodin (Rheum emodi), thymol and carvacrol (Thymus serpyllum) and artemisnin (Artemisia annua) could physically bind COVID-19 target proteins such as SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein (PDB ID: 6VXX), SARS-CoV-2 spike ectodomain structure (PDB ID: 6VYB), and SARS coronavirus spike receptor-binding domain (PDB ID: 2AJF) and in turn preventCOVID-19 binding to the host receptor ACE2. Since Chloroquine (a standard antimalarial drug) has been looked as potential therapy against COVID-19, we also compared the binding of chloroquine and plant origin artemisnin antimalarial drug for its interaction with 6VXX, 6VY and 2AJF. Molecular docking studies using AutoDock/Vina software revealed that among all the phytocompounds artemisinin showed best binding affinity with 6VXX, 6VYB and 2AJF with Etotal -10.5 KJ mol-1, -10.3 KJ mol-1, and -9.1 KJ mol-1 respectively. Whereas emodin, carvacrol and thymol binds with 6VXX, 6VYB and 2AJF with Etotal -6.4, -6.8, -6.9 KJ mol-1, -8.8, -6.8, -7.4 KJ mol-1, and -6.9, -7.4, -7.2 respectively. Similarly, with Autodock/Vina chloroquine showed less binding affinity with 6VXX (-5.6 KJ mol-1), 6VYB (-5.9 KJ mol-1) and 2AJF (-6.4 KJ mol-1) as compared to all phytocompounds. Toxicity prediction showed non-toxicity and non-carcinogen by admetSAR and PROTOX‑II software.


Author(s):  
A. S. Sony ◽  
Xavier Suresh

Aims: To study the anticancer potential of benzodiazole derivatives using molecular modeling studies. Study Design: Molecular Dynamics simulation study. Place and Duration of Study: Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology (SIST), Chennai, between June 2020 and August 2020. Methodology: We studied the anticancer potential of benzodiazole derivatives using molecular modeling. Docking studies of the ligands with EGFR protein 1M17 was carried out using AutoDock.Molecular Dynamics simulation study was carried out using Playmolecule was used to verify the stability of the protein-ligand complex. Results: Molecular docking studies showed a good binding affinity of the ligands with the protein 1m17. Benzodiazole derivative 4,6-dichloro-2-(trifluoromethyl)-1H-1,3-benzodiazole exhibited the lowest binding energy of (-6.42 kcal/mol) at the active site of EGFR (PDB code:1M17) consistent with its least inhibition coefficient (Ki =32.54 uM). Molecular dynamics simulation showed better stability of the ligand and protein complex. Conclusion: Molecular modeling study of selected benzodiazole derivatives showed a very good binding affinity to EGFR protein 1m17. MD simulation of the best-docked ligand showed that the complex was stable. Our study demonstrated that benzodiazole derivatives can be potential anticancer drug candidates


Author(s):  
Sangjae Seo ◽  
Jung Woo Park ◽  
Dosik An ◽  
Junwon Yoon ◽  
Hyojung Paik ◽  
...  

Coronavirus diseases (COVID-19) outbreak has been labelled a pandemic. For the prioritization of treatments to cope with COVID-19, it is important to conduct rapid high-throughput screening of chemical compounds to repurposing the approved drugs, such as repositioning of chloroquine (Malaria drug) for COVID-19. In this study, exploiting supercomputer resource, we conducted high-throughput virtual screening for potential repositioning candidates of the protease inhibitor of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Using the three dimensional structure of main protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2, we evaluated binding affinity between Mpro and drug candidates listed in SWEETLEAD library and ChEMBL database. Docking scores of 19,168 drug molecules at the active site of Mpro were calculated using Autodock Vina package. Among the calculated result, we selected 43 drug candidates and ran molecular dynamics (MD) simulation to further investigate protein-drug interaction. Among compounds that bind to the active site of SARS-CoV-2, we finally selected the 8 drugs showing the highest binding affinity; asunaprevir, atazanavir, dasabuvir, doravirine, fosamprenavir, ritonavir, voxilaprevir and amprenavir, which are the antiviral drugs of hepatitis C virus or human immunodeficiency virus. We expect that the present study provides comprehensive insights into the development of antiviral medication, especially for the treatment of COVID-19.<div><br></div><div>* Attached excel file contains a full list of results of docking calculations</div>


Author(s):  
SRAVANTHI SILIVERI ◽  
NAGARAJU BASHABOINA ◽  
HARINADHA BABU VAMARAJU ◽  
Shiva Raj

Objective: The main objective of this work was to design, synthesize and evaluate the novel pyrazoline incorporated 1,2,3-triazole benzene sulphonamides for cytotoxic and anti-gout activities also to perform Insilco molecular docking studies. Methods: Designed compounds were synthesized by condensation of different substituted chalcones (3a-i) with hydrazine hydrate and substituted phenylhydrazines. All the synthesized compounds were characterized on the basis of physical and spectral data. To predict the affinity and activity of the ligand molecule Libdock program was employed to generate different bioactive binding poses of designing molecules at the active site of protein Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3Kα). Title compounds were evaluated for cytotoxic activity by using 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and anti-gout activity by potassium oxonate induced assay. Results: All the synthesized compounds showed characteristic peaks in FTIR, 1H, 13C NMR and MASS spectral analysis. In molecular docking studies, compound 3i has shown good binding affinity to the active site of PI3Kα with a docking score of 145.031 and 4 hydrogen bonding interactions with least hepatotoxicity and good bioavailability when compared with that of reference ligand KKR exhibited a Libdock score of 88.35. Remaining compounds also have a good binding affinity with a minimum of 2 bonding interactions and having better absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination and toxicity (ADMET) profile. The same compound (3i) exhibited the highest cytotoxic activity with an IC50 value of 4.54µg/ml. Compound 4d was evaluated for anti-inflammatory activity and it has significantly ameliorated against potassium oxonate induced gout in mice when compared with that of standard drug allopurinol due to its anti-inflammatory property. Conclusion: We designed and synthesized a novel series of title compounds in quantitative yields and performed docking studies. New derivatives have a good binding affinity towards PI3Kα enzyme, good bioavailability, least hepatotoxicity and significant cytotoxic activity.


Author(s):  
Majid Ali ◽  
Asma Zaidi ◽  
Umar Farooq ◽  
Rizwana Sarwar ◽  
Syed Majid Bukhari

Background: In the previous study, we reported the isolation of six compounds from Sclerochloa dura and their in-vitro anti-inflammatory potential by their ability to inhibit phospholipase A2 (PLA2). The objective of the current study is to inspect the effect of these compounds on other expected targets. Methods: For this purpose, various targets and percentage activities are predicted through CoFFer (QSAR) web service. All six compounds under investigation represented 99-100% activity towards carbonic anhydrases (CAs) and 90-100% activity towards anticancer drug targets. As the active site of most of the carbonic anhydrase isozymes is conserved, we selected cytosolic human carbonic anhydrase II (hCA II) for docking studies which is ubiquitous and involved in various human disorders such as glaucoma, pulmonary edema, and epilepsy. Anticancer drug targets include vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2), glucocorticoid receptor (GR), and tyrosine-protein kinase (c-SRC). Interaction of these compounds with hCA II (PDB ID: 3P4V) and anticancer drug targets such as VEGFR2 (ID: 3WZD), GR (ID: 5G5W), and c-SRC (ID: 2SRC) was analyzed through molecular docking studies using MOE (Molecular Operating Environment). Results: The findings suggested that most of these compounds represent excellent binding affinity with hCA II by interacting with zinc-coordinated water molecules through sulfonic acid and hydroxyl groups present in the blends. Similarly, five out of six compounds represented excellent interaction with VEGFR2. Interactions with GR indicated that compounds 2, 3, and 6 binds effectively compared to their co-crystallized ligands. However, among these, the excellent binding affinity with c-SRC was demonstrated by compounds 3 and 6. Conclusion: This study revealed that all these compounds exhibited excellent interaction with the active site of hCA II, however in the light of previously reported data and due to membrane barrier, only compound 1 (due to long hydrophobic tail) and compound 4 (due to absence of bulky carbohydrate groups), can only penetrate inside the cytosol. Compounds 2, 3, 4, and 6 containing bulky carbohydrate moieties cannot penetrate inside the cell, therefore, they might have selective nature towards membrane-bounded tumor-associated hCA IX. This anti-tumor property of compounds was also proved by docking studies with VEGFR2, GR, and c-SRC. Therefore, these compounds may have a synergistic effect against inflammation and cancer. The ADMET studies show that compounds have moderate absorption and permeability along with slight toxicity.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sangjae Seo ◽  
Jung Woo Park ◽  
Dosik An ◽  
Junwon Yoon ◽  
Hyojung Paik ◽  
...  

Coronavirus diseases (COVID-19) outbreak has been labelled a pandemic. For the prioritization of treatments to cope with COVID-19, it is important to conduct rapid high-throughput screening of chemical compounds to repurposing the approved drugs, such as repositioning of chloroquine (Malaria drug) for COVID-19. In this study, exploiting supercomputer resource, we conducted high-throughput virtual screening for potential repositioning candidates of the protease inhibitor of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Using the three dimensional structure of main protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2, we evaluated binding affinity between Mpro and drug candidates listed in SWEETLEAD library and ChEMBL database. Docking scores of 19,168 drug molecules at the active site of Mpro were calculated using Autodock Vina package. Among the calculated result, we selected 43 drug candidates and ran molecular dynamics (MD) simulation to further investigate protein-drug interaction. Among compounds that bind to the active site of SARS-CoV-2, we finally selected the 8 drugs showing the highest binding affinity; asunaprevir, atazanavir, dasabuvir, doravirine, fosamprenavir, ritonavir, voxilaprevir and amprenavir, which are the antiviral drugs of hepatitis C virus or human immunodeficiency virus. We expect that the present study provides comprehensive insights into the development of antiviral medication, especially for the treatment of COVID-19.<div><br></div><div>* Attached excel file contains a full list of results of docking calculations</div>


2021 ◽  
Vol 874 ◽  
pp. 136-142
Author(s):  
Kamilia Mustikasari ◽  
Joshua Eka Harap ◽  
Tanto Budi Susilo ◽  
Noer Komari

The drug resistance condition of P. falciparum pose a major challenge in the fight against malaria. This prompts a comprehensive research in an effort to discover new drug candidates. Therefore, chalcone was modified into 24 new compounds, including indolyl-benzodioxyl-chalcone, pyrrolyl-benzodioxyl-chalcone, and thiophenyl-benzodioxyl-chalcone in the course of this study. Moreover, these compounds are commercial malaria mediciations screened for their inhibitory activity using molecular docking simulations. Subsequent results of combined indolyl-benzodioxyl-chalcone and PfDHFR-TS showed the intrinsic indolyl components produced stronger interactions referenced to pyrrolyl-benzodioxyl-chalcone, thiophenyl-benzodioxyl-chalcone, and chloroguanide. Under these circumstances, intense PfDHFR-TS-indolyl-benzodioxyl-chalcone complex was produced with lower binding affinity values (-7.32 to -8.43 kcal/mole) referenced to PfDHFR-TS-pyrrolyl-benzodioxyl-chalcone (-6.38 to -6.68 kcal/mole), PfDHFR-TS-Thiophenyl-benzodioxyl-chalcone (-6.47 to -6.52 kcal/mole), and PfDHFR-TS-chloroguanide (-6.75 kcal/mole). Furthermore, the hydrogen bond interactions developed by indolyl-benzodioxyl-chalcone (7-10) are observably similar to standard chloroguanide compounds and WR99210. These compounds also possess a binding affinity similar to WR99210 (native ligand) and are expected to be potentially anti-malarial candidates.


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