Dual inhibition of COVID-19 spike glycoprotein and main protease 3CLpro by Withanone from Withania somnifera

OBJECTIVE: To identify the safe and effective natural inhibitors of spike glycoprotein and main protease 3CLpro using potential natural antiviral compounds which are studied under various animal models and viral cell lines. METHODS: First, compounds were retrieved from the PubChem database and predicted for their druggability using the MolSoft web server, and compounds having drug-like property were predicted for major adverse drug reactions like cardiotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, arrhythmia, myocardial infarction, and nephrotoxicity using ADVERpred. Docking of nontoxic antiviral compounds with spike glycoprotein and main protease 3CLpro was performed using AutoDock vina by PyRx 0.8 version. The stability of compound-protein interactions was checked by molecular dynamic (MD) simulation using Schrodinger Desmond software. RESULTS: Based on the druggable and nontoxic profile, nine compounds were selected. Among them, Withanone from Withania somnifera showed the highest binding affinity and best fit at active sites 1 of spike glycoprotein (glycosylation site) and main protease 3CLpro via interacting with active site amino acid residues before and after MD simulation at 50 ns. Withanone, which may reduce the glycosylation of SARS-CoV-2 via interacting with Asn343 and inhibit viral replication. CONCLUSION: The current study reports Withanone as a non-toxic antiviral against SARS-CoV-2 and serve as a potential lead hit for further experimental validation.