Molecular Docking study of Receptor Binding Domain of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Glycoprotein with Saikosaponin, a Triterpenoid Natural Product

The appearance of SARS-CoV-2 has resulted ~19000 deaths and ~423000 infections worldwide as of March 24, 2020. Coronavirus spike (S) glycoproteins hooks on target cells and binds to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor. Recent researches speculated that residues 331 to 524 of the S glycoprotein of the receptor binding domain (RDB) of the spike is the most crucial target and this side was very important for computational docking. In the present study we have considered a series of saikosaponins and molecular docking was performed. Most of the docked molecules bind favorably to the RDB region of the spike glycoprotein and among them Saikosaponin B4 is the best inhibitor.