With the increasing number of people suffering from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), there is a dire need to look for effective remedies against this pandemic. Drug repurposing seems to be the solution for the current situation. Methods: In a quest to find a potential drug against this virus, 15 antimalarial drugs (including chloroquine) and 2413 US Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs were investigated for activity against both the protease and spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2 using an in silico approach. Molecular docking analysis followed by molecular dynamics simulation was performed to estimate the binding and stability of the complexes. Results: This study identified a single drugparomomycinwith activity against two targets of SARS-CoV-2, i.e., spike protein (S1) and protease domain. Paromomycin was found to have strong binding affinity for both targets of coronavirus. The results also showed that no antimalarial drug exhibited effective binding for either S1 or protease. Conclusions: This study found that paromomycin may be an effective dual targeting drug against coronavirus, as it binds not only to the protease domain of the virion, but also to the spike domain, with high stability. Furthermore, none of the antimalarial drugs showed strong binding affinity for either protease or the receptor binding domain (RBD).

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Gladiolus is a non-native, costly but an important flowering plant in South Asia. Considering its lower production rate and economic importance, micro-propagation technology was optimized in this study to establish a protocol for pathogen free clonal genotypes. Taken the results together, the best response was observed at 27°C as growing temperature, table sugar (sucrose) as a carbon source, apical Keywords BAP IBA Kinetin Micro-propagation MS basal medium NAA meristem of 3mm for shoot formation as an explant. The best plant regeneration was observed for shoot apical meristem (within 7.8 days after inoculation) by using Murashige and Skoog MS basal medium with supplementing 1.0 mg/L BAP and 0.5 mg/L of Kinetin. The best shoot multiplication was 98% in 18.2 days of inoculation using MS media with 1.0 mg/L BAP only. For root induction, MS media which was supplemented with 1.0 mg/L NAA and 2.0 mg/L IBA gave the best results (100% in 6.8 days). The best supporting agent was found to be cotton swab while the best media for hardening and acclimatization of well-developed plants was a combination of sand, soil, and peat in an equal ratio (1:1:1), leading to 80% survival rate of plants. The results obtained in this study may better help grow Gladiolus plants on an industrial scale with a lower cost of production Bioscientific Reviews Volume 1(2) Bioscientific Reviews Volume 1(2)

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