Discovery of Multi-Target-Directed Ligands by Targeting Host-specific
SARS-CoV-2's Structurally Conserved Main Protease
Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection
has resulted in the current COVID-19 pandemic. Worldwide this disease
has infected around 1.5 million individuals with a mortality rate
ranging from 5 to 10%. There are several efforts are going on in the
drug discovery to control the SARS-CoV-2 viral infection. The main
protease (MPro) plays a critical role in viral replication and
maturation, thus can serve as the primary drug target. To understand the
structural evolution of MPro, we have performed phylogenetic and SSN
analysis, that depicted divergence of Coronaviridae MPro in five
clusters specific to viral hosts. This clustering was also corroborated
with the comparison of MPro structures. Furthermore, it has been
observed that backbone and binding site conformations are conserved
despite variation in some of the residues. This conservation can be
exploited to repurpose available viral protease inhibitors against
SARS-CoV-2 MPro. In agreement with this, we performed screening of
~7100 molecules including active ingredients present in
the Ayurvedic anti-tussive medicines, anti-viral phytochemicals and
synthetic anti-virals against SARS-CoV-2 MPro as the primary target. We
identified several natural molecules like -Viniferin, Myricitrin,
Taiwanhomoflavone A, Lactucopicrin 15-oxalate, Nympholide A, Biorobin
and Phyllaemblicin B that strongly binds to SARS-CoV-2 MPro among. Most
of the predicted lead molecules are from Vitis vinifera, also reported
for anti-tussive and/or antiviral activities. These molecules also
showed strong binding with other main targets RdRp and hACE-2. We
anticipate that our approach for identification of multi-target-directed
ligand will provide new avenues for drug discovery against SARS-CoV-2
infection.