Harnessing and bioprospecting botanical-based herbal medicines against potential drug targets for COVID-19: a review coupled molecular docking studies

Since the end of February 2020, the world has come to a standstill due to the virus SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2). Since then, the global scientific community has explored various remedies and treatments against this virus, including natural products that have always been a choice because of their many benefits. Various known phytochemicals are well documented for their antiviral properties. Research is being carried out to discover new natural plant products or existing ones as a treatment measure for this disease. The three important targets in this regard are—papain like protease (PLpro), spike protein, and 3 chymotrypsin like proteases (3CLpro). Various docking studies are also being elucidated to identify the phytochemicals that modulate crucial proteins of the virus. The paper is simultaneously a comprehensive review that covers recent advances in the domain of the effect of various botanically derived natural products as an alternative treatment approach against Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Furthermore, the docking analyses revealed that rutin (inhibitor of the major protease of SARS-CoV-2), gallocatechin (e.g., interacting with 03 hydrogen bonds with a spike-like protein), lycorine (showing the best binding affinity with amino acids GLN498, THR500 and GLY446 of the spike-like protein), and quercetrin (inhabiting at its residues ASP216, PHE219, and ILE259) are promising inhibitors of SARS‑CoV‑2.

This work was supported by the “Faculty Research and Professional Development Fund” (FRPDF) of the Govt. of West Bengal and the Presidency University and the DBT-BUILDER from the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India. This research was funded by projects APOGEO (Cooperation Program INTERREG-MAC 2014–2020, with European Funds for Regional Development-FEDER, “Agencia Canaria de Investigación, Innovación y Sociedad de la Información (ACIISI) del Gobierno de Canarias” (project ProID2020010134), and CajaCanarias (project 2019SP43). The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Peer reviewed