Prevention of SARS-CoV-2 cell entry: insight from<i>in silico</i>interaction of drug-like alkaloids with spike glycoprotein, human ACE2, and TMPRSS2

COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, an enveloped positive sense RNA virus. The SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein, <i>human</i> angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and human transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2) are essential for the host cell-mediated viral entry. Targeting these proteins represent viable options to stop the first stage of infection and transmission. Hence, 97 alkaloids from African medicinal plants with reported antiviral activity were evaluated for this purpose via <i>in silico</i> studies. These alkaloids were docked for their interactions with SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein, ACE2, and TMPRSS2. Top 20 alkaloids with highest binding affinities were further screened for their interactions with spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, and with ACE2-SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain complex (ACE2-RBD). The energy profiling, molecular dynamics simulation (MDS), binding free energy base on Molecular Mechanics/Generalized Born Surface Area (MMGBSA), clustering of MDS trajectories, and virtual physicochemical and pharmacokinetic screening of the best docked alkaloids were performed. Results revealed that more than 15 alkaloids interacted better than the reference compounds. 10-Hydroxyusambarensine and Cryptospirolepine were docked in a similar binding pattern to the S1-specificy pocket of TMPRSS2 as camostat (reference inhibitor). The strong binding affinities, stability of the alkaloid-protein complexes and amino acid interactions displayed by cryptospirolepine, 10-hydroxyusambarensine, and cryptoquindoline with important binding hotspots of the proteins suggest these alkaloids have the potential of altering the capacity of SARS-CoV-2 membrane mediated host cell entry. Further <i>in vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i> evaluation of these "drug-like" alkaloids as potential inhibitors of coronavirus cell entry is proposed.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.