Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS CoV-2) has been declared a worldwide pandemic by WHO recently. The complete understanding of the complex genomic structure of SARS CoV-2 has enabled the use of computational tools in search of SARS CoV-2 inhibitors against the multiple proteins responsible for its entry and multiplication in human cells. With this endeavor, 177 natural, anti-viral chemical entities and their derivatives, selected through the critical analysis of the literatures, were studied using pharmacophore screening followed by molecular docking against RNA dependent RNA polymerase and main protease. The identified hits have been subjected to molecular dynamic simulations to study the stability of ligand-protein complexes followed by ADMET analysis and Lipinski filters to confirm their drug likeliness. It has led to an important start point in the drug discovery and development of therapeutic agents against SARS CoV-2.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome has relapsed recently as novel coronavirus causing a life threat to the entire world in the absence of an effective therapy. To hamper the replication of the deadly SARS CoV-2 inside the host cells, systematic
in silico
virtual screening of total 267,324 ligands from Asinex EliteSynergy and BioDesign libraries has been performed using AutoDock Vina against RdRp. The molecular modeling studies revealed the identification of twenty-one macrocyclic hits (
2
-
22
) with better binding energy than remdesivir (
1
), marketed SARS CoV-2 inhibitor. Further, the analysis using rules for drug-likeness and their ADMET profile revealed the candidature of these hits due to superior oral bioavailability and druggability. Further, the MD simulation studies of top two hits (
2
and
3
) performed using GROMACS 2020.1 for 10 ns revealed their stability into the docked complexes. These results provide an important breakthrough in the design of macrocyclic hits as SARS CoV-2 RNA replicase inhibitor.
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.