Study of the interaction between some flavonoids of plant origin with COVID-19 main protease by molecular docking method

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a new infectious disease which has been named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) [1]. Protease plays a critical role in the life cycle and reproduction of the virus. It appeared that protease inhibitors act effectively and prevent the replication of the some viruses. Therefore, they are considered as an important receptor for coronavirus inhibitors. Flavonoids inhibited the main protease of variety viral such as SARS [2], hepatitis C virus (HCV) [3], influenza A virus, etc. Thus, they possess a wide range of antiviral activities. The potential of 70 plant origin flavonoid from eight subclasses for inhibition of main protease of COVID-19 investigated by molecular docking approach. COVID-19 Docking Server (https://ncov.schanglab.org.cn/) was applied to check the inhibitor activity of the flavonoids in compare to the native protease inhibitor (N3) of main protease.