Document Type : Original Article
Authors
- Nur Rahmattullah 1
- Estri Laras Arumingtyas 1
- Muhammad Hermawan Widyananda 2
- Alhuda Niftakhul Ahyar 3
- Imam Tabroni 3
1 Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, University of Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia
2 Animal Physiology and Molecular Laboratory, Department of Biology, University of Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia
3 Plant Genetics and Physiology Laboratory, Department of Biology, University of Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia
Abstract
Background: Plant-based remedies against Covid-19 and their research to discover antiviral compounds have been growing rapidly. However, there are little interest to explore and collect information of bioactive compounds of pepper (Capsicum sp.) to fight off the disease. This study aimed to bioinformatically explore and identify bioactive compounds in chili pepper fruits from four Capsicum species (C. annuum, C. baccatum, C. chinense, C. frutescens) which were compatible to fight off SARS-CoV-2 and provide indirect and direct virus inhibition from previous studies.
Methods: Protein-ligand interactions were obtained from protein data bank (PDB), PubChem, and SwissModel for homology modeling. Docking was performed using PyRx and visualized using BIOVIA Discovery Studio Visualizer 2016.
Results: Four chili pepper species were rich in organic acid compounds (100 times higher than carotenoids concentration; 0.2-156 mg/kg F.W). A type of fatty acids composition in seeds was slightly different from flesh and peels by the small amount of pharmaceutically valuable palmitoleic acids in seeds (approximately 30 mg/kg F.W). Composition of flavonoid relatively varied among the species but luteolin was found in all chili peppers (0.5-18 mg/kg F.W). Most of the compounds were actively interacting with 3CLPro rather than ACE-2 and TMPRSS2 which were well covered up by only 10 and 17 molecules respectively.
Conclusion: Four chili pepper species contained bioactive compounds that are medicinally important to fight against SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Graphical Abstract
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Highlights
Key messages:
- Implication for policy makers
- Nowadays, price of chili pepper in Indonesia has been unstable and introducing the medicinal value to fight off SARS-CoV-2 infection can trigger and soon standardize pepper price.
- Capsicum annuum that consists the highest number of superior varieties planted in Indonesia, can be tolerant to certain stress agents (physical, chemical, biological stress sources). It can be expected to supply chili pepper which is valuable to counter attack covid-19 spread.
- Implication for public
Herb-based crop, such as chili pepper (Capsicum sp.), which is well known due to the attribute of spiciness and flavor, can be a promising source for the supply of drugs production. By applying bioinformatics analysis to discover potential compounds in chili pepper, 17 new compounds in chili pepper, except from fatty acids, were bioinformatically matched with all proteins tested, namely human-based (ACE-2 and TMPRSS2) and viral protein (3CLPro) which plays a crucial part in SARS CoV-2 infection. Some carotenoids in chili pepper were potentially as either antioxidant or powerful SARS-CoV-2-cell interaction blockage. Among four species investigated, C. annuum is the highest in carotenoids and fatty acids while flavonoid and organic acids in C. chinense.
Keywords
Main Subjects
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