New Potential Inhibitors of Coronaviral Main Protease (CoV-Mpro): Strychnine Bush, Pineapple, and Ginger could be Natural Enemies of COVID-19

This current research aims to find candidate anti-COVID-19 compounds from the natural herbal sources, mainly, strychnine bush (Strychnos lucida), pineapple (Ananas comosus), and ginger (Zingiber officinale) to act as efficient blockers of the coronaviral-2 main protease (Mpro) receptor based on computational molecular docking modeling evaluation. The docking protocol was carried out using mainly N3 comparison utilizing four known potential anti-COVID-19 drugs, favipiravir/GS-441524/remdesivir/hydroxychloroquine, as positive controls. The docking results frankly show that the compounds ananas 26/zingiberenol/zingiberol have higher inhibitory binding affinities compared to the native ligand N3 and the other tested ingredients/references. Ananas 26 compound has the strongest hydrogen bonds with the coronaviral-2 Mpro active amino acid residues. Potential candidate compounds as COVID-19 Mpro inhibitors, ananas 26 from pineapple and zingiberenol as well as zingiberol from ginger, can further be subjected to potential inhibitor assays and in vitro/in vivo tests for evaluating and proving their biological activities against SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19.