Lectins from plants and algae act as anti-viral against HIV, influenza and coronaviruses

Abstract

Background Carbohydrate–lectin interactions are extremely specific as the lectin is capable of recognising monomeric and oligomeric sugars in a reversible manner. It has been known for a long time that lectins have antibacterial, antifungal, and insecticidal activities. Recently, it has been reported that many lectins can prevent the virus growth by interacting with the viral envelop surface glycoprotein. Spike protein, which is found on the surface of some enveloped viruses, is heavily mannosylated and will have strong affinity for mannose specific lectins. According to the findings, lectins have a high binding affinity for the glycans of the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein, which contains N-glycosylation sites. As a result, various lectins are being researched and developed as anti-viral agents. Results According to our in silico studies, the amino acid residues Asn487, Tyr489, Gln493, Lys417, and Tyr505 of the receptor binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 formed an interaction with the model lectin Lablab purpureus lectin. Similar interaction for SARS-CoV-2 spike protein was observed with Griffithsin lectin (algal source) as well. These observations demonstrate that lectins could be one of the potential molecules for neutralising coronavirus infection. Conclusion This review focuses on anti-viral lectins isolated and characterized from plants and algae (last 5 years) and showed anti-viral properties against HIV, Influenza, and coronaviruses.

Bioactivity of Fucoidan-Rich Extracts from Fucus vesiculosus against Rotavirus and Foodborne Pathogens

“…It is important to mention that, apart from fucoidans, it is possible that more molecules with antiviral activity could have been coextracted in this study, especially in the case of the evaluation of the whole extracts. In this regard, lectins are glycoproteins found also in algae, and they have demonstrated antiviral activity against different viruses as they are unique to certain sugars such as mannose, lactose, and other glycans [ 65 ]. The carbohydrates recognition domain (CRD) of lectins determines the specificity and avidity of sugar-binding properties [ 65 ].…”

“…In this regard, lectins are glycoproteins found also in algae, and they have demonstrated antiviral activity against different viruses as they are unique to certain sugars such as mannose, lactose, and other glycans [ 65 ]. The carbohydrates recognition domain (CRD) of lectins determines the specificity and avidity of sugar-binding properties [ 65 ]. Lectins have the ability to bind reversibly to viral receptors and viral glycoproteins in a non-covalent and highly specific manner resulting in inhibition of infection [ 66 , 67 ].…”

Lactic acid bacterial surface display of scytovirin inhibitors for anti-ebolavirus infection

“…efficacy (Ramachandran and Shanmughavel, 2009;Obiero et al, 2012). Especially, natural lectins as inhibitors can reduce unnecessary immune responses and enhance specific inhibiting activities for therapeutic applications (Akkouh et al, 2015;Mitchell et al, 2017;El-Maradny et al, 2021;Fernandez Romero et al, 2021;Mazur-Marzec et al, 2021;Naik and Kumar, 2022). For developing this method to use bacteria for antiviral diseases, bacterial engineering is a critical step.…”

“…Scytovirin is a type of lectin which are known carbohydrate-binding proteins with non-immunologic nature (Fernandez Romero et al, 2021). Because lectins recognize the carbohydrates on the glycoproteins of viral particles, they usually exhibit antiviral activities (Akkouh et al, 2015;Naik and Kumar, 2022). Lectins from algae, plants and cyanobacteria show strong inhibitory activity against HIV infection (Li et al, 2008;Akkouh et al, 2015).…”

Plants as Biofactories for Therapeutic Proteins and Antiviral Compounds to Combat COVID-19

“…Lectins from plants and algae, which are carbohydrate-binding proteins of non-immune origin, were earlier found to inhibit several viral diseases, such as HIV, hepatitis C, influenza A/B, herpes, Japanese encephalitis, Ebola, and SARS coronavirus that occurred in 2003 [ 110 , 111 , 112 , 113 ]. Recently, some lectins have shown significant activity against SARS-CoV-2 [ 114 , 115 , 116 ].…”