Evaluation of medicinal herbs as a potential therapeutic option against SARS-CoV-2 targeting its main protease.

The COVID-19 disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 has emerged as a worldwide pandemic and caused huge damage to the lives and economy of more than hundred countries. As on May 10, 2020, more than 4,153,300 people stand infected from the virus due to an unprecedented rate of transmission and 282,700 have lost their lives because of the disease. In this context, medicinal plants may provide a way to treat the disease by targeting specific essential proteins of the virus. We screened about 51 medicinal plants and found that Tea (Camellia sinensis) and Haritaki (Terminalia chebula) has potential against SARS-COV-2 3CLpro , with an IC50 for Green Tea as 8.9 ± 0.5 µg/ml and Haritaki 8.8 ± 0.5 µg/ml. The in-silico studies suggested that Tea component Thearubigins binds to the cysteine 145 of protease active site and could be a pharmacoactive molecule. We predict that the inhibition in protease activity may be able to halt the SARS-CoV-2 replication cycle and therefore, we propose Green Tea, Black Tea, and Haritaki plant extracts as potential therapeutic candidates for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Further investigation on role of bioactive constituents of extracts is needed to establish the molecular basis of inhibition and towards expedited drug discovery.

Combination of synthetic and natural products as pesticides (CSYNAP): a new class of antifungal agents.

In the present communication some dehydrated dialdol products such as 1, 5 - Diphenyl pent - 1, 4 - diene - 3 - one (A1); 1, 9 - Diphenylnon - 1, 3, 6, 8 - tetraene - 5 - one (A2); 1, 5 - di (2 - hydroxyphenyl) pent - 1, 4 - diene - 3 - one (A3); 1, 5 - difuran pent - 1, 4 - diene - 3 - one (A4); 1, 5 - di [4 - bis (N, Ndimethyl) phenyl] pent - 1, 4 - diene - 3 - one (A5) were screened for their antifungal activity. To reduce their adverse effect on the environment, for the first time, we have attempted to screen the antifungal activity of these synthetic compounds in conjunction with selected natural products. The natural products that were used in our study include Nicotine tobaccum and Neem oil (Azadirachta indica). A set of 15 samples was tested against highly pathogenic and of extensive host range fungi Sclerotium rolfsii, Rhizactonia bataticola, Fusarium udum. The filter paper disc assay to monitor antifungal effect revealed significant and interesting results. We found that the use of the combination of natural and synthetic pesticides is more effective and environmentally healthy compared to just synthetic chemicals and/or less available natural products. These results obtained from the combined use of natural and synthetic chemicals lead us to suggest to a new class of less toxic but more effective pesticides. We call it group as CSYNAP, i. e. Combination of SYnthetic and NAtural products as Pesticides.