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 nd 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 a nity with 6VXX, 6VYB and 2AJF with E total
Malaria has long been a devastating and life-threatening global epidemic disease in human history. Artemisinin, the active substance against malaria, was first isolated and tested in the 1970s in China. The important role played by traditional Chinese medicine in the discovery of artemisinin is described by Y. Tu in her Nobel Lecture.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.