Current Science

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In this study, we screened 26 bioactive compounds present in various spices for activity against SARS-CoV-2 using molecular docking. Results showed that piperine, present in black pepper had a high binding affinity (–7.0 kCal/mol) than adenosine monophos-phate (–6.4 kCal/mol) towards the RNA-binding pock-et of the nucleocapsid. Molecular dynamics simulation of the docked complexes confirmed the stability of piperine docked to nucleocapsid protein as a potential inhibitor of the RNA-binding site. Therefore, piperine seems to be potential candidate to inhibit the packag-ing of RNA in the nucleocapsid and thereby inhibiting the viral proliferation. This study suggests that consumption of black pepper may also help to combat SARS-CoV-2 directly through possible antiviral effects, besides its immunomodulatory functions.

Keywords

Binding Affinity, Black Pepper, COVID-19, Homology Modelling, Piperine.
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