SARS-CoV-2 and its Predicted Potential Natural Inhibitors: A Review and Perspective

Abstract

: SARS-CoV-2, a novel coronavirus, has caused the pneumonia outbreak in the entire world and every day, the number of cases is increasing in an exponential manner. Unfortunately, there is no clinically approved drug or vaccine specific for SARS-CoV-2 to date, and analysis of the current rate of spread of infection suggests that there is no time to wait for the approval of drugs and vaccine production. The sequence and phylogenetic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 has shown that it is very much similar to SARS/SARS-like coronaviruses and belongs to the betacoronavirus genera and bats are likely to be the native host of the SARS-CoV-2. Interestingly, the SARS-CoV-2 S protein and SARS-CoV S protein shared an almost identical 3-D structure in the RBD domain and the SARS-CoV-2 S protein was found to have a significant binding affinity to human ACE2. Further, RdRp and 3CLpro protease of SARSCoV- 2 share over 95% of sequence similarity with those of SARS-CoV. Recently, various molecular docking studies have been carried out to search for natural compounds that can target S protein, RdRp, 3CLpro, and nsp proteins of SARS-CoV-2. This review is an attempt to give a comprehensive idea of the different natural products that can be used to target SARS-CoV-2. However, further research is necessary to investigate the potential uses of these predicted SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors in combating the COVID-19 pandemic.