Antimicrobial Alkaloids from Marine-Derived Fungi as Drug Leads versus COVID-19 Infection: A Computational Approach to Explore their Anti-COVID-19 Activity and ADMET Properties

Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
2022.0

Abstract

Therapeutic strategies based upon enzyme inhibition have recently gained higher attention in treating hazardous ailments. Herein, the potential use of seventy-two antimicrobial alkaloids isolated from marine-derived fungi to fight COVID-19 infection via inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 lethal virus was performed using in silico analyses. Molecular modelling was performed to assess their enzyme inhibitory potential on the main protease SARS-CoV-2 M(Pro), 3-chymotrypsin-like protease SARS-CoV-2 3CL(pro), and papain-like protease SARS-CoV-2 PL(pro) using Discovery Studio 4.5. Validation of the docking experiments was done by determination of RMSD (root mean square deviation) after redocking the superimposition of the cocrystalized ligands. Results showed that gymnastatin Z (72) showed the best fitting score in SARS-CoV-2 M(Pro) and SARS-CoV-2 3CL(pr) active sites with ∆G equal -34.15 and -34.28 Kcal/mol, respectively. Meanwhile, scalusamide C (62) displayed the highest fitting within SARS-CoV-2 PL(pro) active sites (∆G = -26.91 Kcal/mol) followed by eutypellazine M (57). ADMET/TOPKAT prediction displayed that eutypellazine M and scalusamide C showed better pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. Gymnastatin Z is safer showing better toxicity criteria and higher rat oral LD(50) and rat chronic LOAEL (lowest observed adverse effect level). Chemometric analysis using principle component analysis (PCA) based on the binding energies observed for the compounds with respect to the three tested enzymes revealed the clustering of the compounds into different clusters. Eutypellazine M, scalusamide C, and gymnastatin Z appear in one cluster due to their closeness in activity. Thus, these compounds could serve as promising SARS-CoV-2 enzymes inhibitors that could help in alleviation of COVID-19 infection. Further investigations are recommended to confirm the results of molecular modelling. CI - Copyright (c) 2022 Sherouk Hussein Sweilam et al.

Knowledge Graph

Similar Paper

Antimicrobial Alkaloids from Marine-Derived Fungi as Drug Leads versus COVID-19 Infection: A Computational Approach to Explore their Anti-COVID-19 Activity and ADMET Properties
Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2022.0
Integrated bioinformatics–cheminformatics approach toward locating pseudo‐potential antiviral marine alkaloids against <scp>SARS‐CoV‐2‐Mpro</scp>
Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics 2022.0
Virtual screening-driven drug discovery of SARS-CoV2 enzyme inhibitors targeting viral attachment, replication, post-translational modification and host immunity evasion infection mechanisms
Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics 2021.0
Indole alkaloids as potential candidates against COVID-19: an in silico study
Journal of Molecular Modeling 2022.0
Comprehensive Virtual Screening of the Antiviral Potentialities of Marine Polycyclic Guanidine Alkaloids against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19)
Biomolecules 2021.0
Investigating the structure-activity relationship of marine polycyclic batzelladine alkaloids as promising inhibitors for SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro)
Computers in Biology and Medicine 2022.0
Bioguided Isolation of Cyclopenin Analogues as Potential SARS-CoV-2 Mpro Inhibitors from Penicillium citrinum TDPEF34
Biomolecules 2021.0
Bioactive Alkaloids from Genus Aspergillus: Mechanistic Interpretation of Their Antimicrobial and Potential SARS-CoV-2 Inhibitory Activity Using Molecular Modelling
International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2021.0
Neoechinulin A as a Promising SARS-CoV-2 Mpro Inhibitor: In Vitro and In Silico Study Showing the Ability of Simulations in Discerning Active from Inactive Enzyme Inhibitors
Marine Drugs 2022.0
A Computational Study of Carbazole Alkaloids from Murraya koenigii as Potential SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease Inhibitors
Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology 2023.0