Antiviral COVID-19 protein and molecular docking: characterization of various antiviral compounds extracted from Blume.

Blume is a highly medicinal and poisonous plant belong to the family Araceae. It is used to treat several deadly diseases, including viral infections. It has antioxidant, anti-cancerous, antimalarial, anti-vermicidal, and antiviral activities. Therefore, five parts of the Blume plant, such as leaf, seed, stem, pulp, and rhizome extract, were evaluated for metabolic and characterization of probable compounds using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. A total of 22 compounds were isolated from the methanolic extracts of Blume. A selected antiviral COVID-19 protein i.e., protease (6LU7) was docked against the obtained compounds. Different affinities were obtained through various compounds. The best results were shown by three different compounds identified in the rhizome. The maximum binding affinity of these compounds is 8.1 kJ/mol. Molecular docking (MD) indicate that these molecules have the highest binding energies and hydrogen bonding interactions. The binding mode of interaction was discovered to be reasonably effective for counteracting the SARS virus COVID-19. The findings of this study could be extremely useful in the development of more phytochemical-based COVID-19 therapeutics.