Violacein, A Microbial Antiviral Product: Does Play Key Role as Active Agent Against SARS-CoV-2?

Abstract

Violacein, a microbial product was characterized after continuous attempts to feature it, based on degradation and synthesis procedures, at the University of Liverpool (England), from 1958 to 1960 and only at 2001 was chemically synthesized. It is a quite known antimicrobial and antiviral natural product. New attempts to solve the infection caused by, or find the proper therapy for, COVID19, must adopt multidisciplinary approach. The aim of the current study is to address the targets, possible strategies and perspectives of new technologies and therapies on COVID19. It also hypothesizes the potential of using the therapeutic drug called violacein as multifunctional agent to treat patients at different COVID19 contamination stages. Our experience and knowledge about violacein has led us to extrapolate the potential use of this pigment. Violacein multiple biological activities as also knowledge on its toxicity and antiviral activity enabled suggesting that it could be the new important agent used to treat COVID19. Violacein is highly likely to act as protease inhibitor, at ACE2 receptor level and as immunotherapeutic drug against Covid19. In term of chemotherapy, it will be discussed the actual antiviral used against COVID19, such as, thalidomide, ivermectin and melatonin, among others.

Investigation of potential inhibitor properties of violacein against HIV-1 RT and CoV-2 Spike RBD:ACE-2

“…During the SARS-CoV-2 viral infection, the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins S1 subunit and S2 subunit plays an important role in the fusing of viral and host membranes (Tai et al 2019). For virus–cell membrane fusion, the S1 subunit of SARS-CoV-2 S protein identifies and binds to cell receptor ACE2, as well as to HR1 and HR2, and this creates a six-helix bundle (Duran et al 2021 ). Therefore, during the viral infection process, the RBD of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein plays a critical role in binding to the ACE2 receptor (Duran et al 2021 ).…”

“…For virus–cell membrane fusion, the S1 subunit of SARS-CoV-2 S protein identifies and binds to cell receptor ACE2, as well as to HR1 and HR2, and this creates a six-helix bundle (Duran et al 2021 ). Therefore, during the viral infection process, the RBD of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein plays a critical role in binding to the ACE2 receptor (Duran et al 2021 ). HIV-1 enzymes, such as reverse transcriptase (RT), integrase (INT), and protease (PR), play a major role in the replication process.…”

“…Due to the diversity of the biological activities of violacein, it was considered that it could be a new agent for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 (Duran et al 2021 ). Duran et al ( 2021 ) suggest that violacein can act as a protease inhibitor at the ACE2 receptor level and so it can be used as an immunotherapeutic medicine for COVID-19.…”

“…Due to the diversity of the biological activities of violacein, it was considered that it could be a new agent for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 (Duran et al 2021 ). Duran et al ( 2021 ) suggest that violacein can act as a protease inhibitor at the ACE2 receptor level and so it can be used as an immunotherapeutic medicine for COVID-19. Additionally, research on HIV-1 proteins, which are responsible for reverse transcription and viral DNA integration, indicated that small molecules can have significant importance for pre-exposure HIV-1 prophylaxis (Tarasova et al 2018 ).…”

Violacein and its antifungal activity: comments and potentialities

“…Many studies have pointed out violacein as having biological drug potential as anticancer, antimicrobial, antiviral, trypanocide, antinematode, antileishmanial antiulcerogenic and immunomodulatory pharmaceutic (Dur an et al 2016(Dur an et al , 2021a(Dur an et al , 2021b(Dur an et al , 2021c. The present review aimed to describe updated outcomes on this microbial Letters in Applied Microbiology 75, 796--803 © 2022 Society for Applied Microbiology.…”