摘要
Background:Recently,the Chinese scientists Liu et al.demonstrated a crystallized form of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 main protease(M^(pro)),the best target of the drug,which was published in Nature in June 2020.Many components of herbs are determined as the potential inhibitors of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)M^(pro)such as quercetin,cirsimaritin,hispidulin,and flavonoids.Methods:Library of herb-based bioactive saponins are analyzed with 6LU7 M^(pro)using AutoDock tools 1.5.6,BIOVIA Discovery Studio 2017 R2,Chimera 1.13.1,and AutoDock Vina to evaluate their potency against COVID-19 M^(pro).The conventional Western medicines,including hydroxychloroquine,chloroquine and nelfinavir,are used as positive controls for comparison.Results:Binding energies of 60 saponins with 6LU7 M^(pro)are obtained in which approximately 34 saponins are more effective on COVID-19 M^(pro)than hydroxychloroquine,chloroquine,and nelfinavir.13 saponins exhibit high potency against COVID-19 M^(pro)due to more binding energies than 10 kcal/mol.Conclusion:Further research on all effective saponins is needed to evaluate the real medicinal potential against COVID-19.
