Withdrawn: Structural Basis of SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro and Anti-COVID-19 Drug Discovery from Medicinal Plants
Muhammad Tahir ul Qamar, Safar M. Alqahtani, Mubarak A. Alamri, Ling‐Ling Chen · Preprints.org · 2020
The recent outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 in December 2019 raised global health concerns. The viral 3-chymotrypsin-like cysteine protease (3CLpro) enzyme, which controls coronavirus replication and is essential for its life cycle, is a proven drug discovery target in the case of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). Recent studies revealed that the genome sequence of SARS-CoV-2 is very similar to that of SARS-CoV. Therefore, herein, we analysed the 3CLpro sequence, constructed a 3D homology model, and screened it against a medicinal plant library containing 32,297 potential anti-viral phytochemicals/traditional Chinese medicinal compounds. Our analyses revealed that the top nine hits may serve as potential anti- SARS-CoV-2 lead molecules for further optimisation and drug development to control COVID-19.