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Ibrahim MAA, Abdelrahman AHM, Atia MAM, Mohamed TA, Moustafa MF, Hakami AR, Khalifa SAM, Alhumaydhi FA, Alrumaihi F, Abidi SH, Allemailem KS, Efferth T, Soliman ME, Paré PW, El-Seedi HR, Hegazy MEF. Blue Biotechnology: Computational Screening of Sarcophyton Cembranoid Diterpenes for SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease Inhibition. Mar Drugs 2021; 19:391. [PMID: 34356816 PMCID: PMC8308023 DOI: 10.3390/md19070391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2021] [Revised: 07/06/2021] [Accepted: 07/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The coronavirus pandemic has affected more than 150 million people, while over 3.25 million people have died from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). As there are no established therapies for COVID-19 treatment, drugs that inhibit viral replication are a promising target; specifically, the main protease (Mpro) that process CoV-encoded polyproteins serves as an Achilles heel for assembly of replication-transcription machinery as well as down-stream viral replication. In the search for potential antiviral drugs that target Mpro, a series of cembranoid diterpenes from the biologically active soft-coral genus Sarcophyton have been examined as SARS-CoV-2 Mpro inhibitors. Over 360 metabolites from the genus were screened using molecular docking calculations. Promising diterpenes were further characterized by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations based on molecular mechanics-generalized Born surface area (MM-GBSA) binding energy calculations. According to in silico calculations, five cembranoid diterpenes manifested adequate binding affinities as Mpro inhibitors with ΔGbinding < -33.0 kcal/mol. Binding energy and structural analyses of the most potent Sarcophyton inhibitor, bislatumlide A (340), was compared to darunavir, an HIV protease inhibitor that has been recently subjected to clinical-trial as an anti-COVID-19 drug. In silico analysis indicates that 340 has a higher binding affinity against Mpro than darunavir with ΔGbinding values of -43.8 and -34.8 kcal/mol, respectively throughout 100 ns MD simulations. Drug-likeness calculations revealed robust bioavailability and protein-protein interactions were identified for 340; biochemical signaling genes included ACE, MAPK14 and ESR1 as identified based on a STRING database. Pathway enrichment analysis combined with reactome mining revealed that 340 has the capability to re-modulate the p38 MAPK pathway hijacked by SARS-CoV-2 and antagonize injurious effects. These findings justify further in vivo and in vitro testing of 340 as an antiviral agent against SARS-CoV-2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mahmoud A. A. Ibrahim
- Computational Chemistry Laboratory, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Minia University, Minia 61519, Egypt;
| | - Alaa H. M. Abdelrahman
- Computational Chemistry Laboratory, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Minia University, Minia 61519, Egypt;
| | - Mohamed A. M. Atia
- Molecular Genetics and Genome Mapping Laboratory, Genome Mapping Department, Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI), Agricultural Research Center (ARC), Giza 12619, Egypt;
| | - Tarik A. Mohamed
- Chemistry of Medicinal Plants Department, National Research Centre, 33 El-Bohouth St., Dokki, Giza 12622, Egypt;
| | - Mahmoud F. Moustafa
- Department of Biology, College of Science, King Khalid University, Abha 9004, Saudi Arabia; or
- Department of Botany & Microbiology, Faculty of Science, South Valley University, Qena 83523, Egypt
| | - Abdulrahim R. Hakami
- Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Khalid University, Abha 61481, Saudi Arabia;
| | - Shaden A. M. Khalifa
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden;
| | - Fahad A. Alhumaydhi
- Department of Medical Laboratories, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Qassim University, Buraydah 51452, Saudi Arabia; (F.A.A.); (F.A.); (K.S.A.)
| | - Faris Alrumaihi
- Department of Medical Laboratories, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Qassim University, Buraydah 51452, Saudi Arabia; (F.A.A.); (F.A.); (K.S.A.)
| | - Syed Hani Abidi
- Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Aga Khan University, Karachi 74800, Pakistan;
| | - Khaled S. Allemailem
- Department of Medical Laboratories, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Qassim University, Buraydah 51452, Saudi Arabia; (F.A.A.); (F.A.); (K.S.A.)
| | - Thomas Efferth
- Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, Institute of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, Johannes Gutenberg University, Staudinger Weg 5, 55128 Mainz, Germany;
| | - Mahmoud E. Soliman
- Molecular Modelling and Drug Design Research Group, School of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, Durban 4000, South Africa;
| | - Paul W. Paré
- Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA;
| | - Hesham R. El-Seedi
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, El-Menoufia University, Shebin El-Kom 32512, Egypt
- International Research Center for Food Nutrition and Safety, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
- Pharmacognosy Group, Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Uppsala University, Biomedical Centre, Box 574, 751 23 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Mohamed-Elamir F. Hegazy
- Chemistry of Medicinal Plants Department, National Research Centre, 33 El-Bohouth St., Dokki, Giza 12622, Egypt;
- Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, Institute of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, Johannes Gutenberg University, Staudinger Weg 5, 55128 Mainz, Germany;
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