The breakthrough could lead to a plant-based antiviral drug, according to scientists.

Biologists from the US Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that the rhamnan sulfate (RS) – a polysaccharide with a rhamnose backbone found in green seaweeds (Monostroma nitidum), can effectively suppress the coronavirus.

As you know, SARS-CoV-2 penetrates cells via the RBD receptor-binding domain of its spike protein interacting with the ACE2 receptor of the host cell, as you may know. Furthermore, the RBD domain has the ability to bind to heparan sulfate and other polysaccharides on the cell surface.

The team decided to test whether other polysaccharides, such as RS, found in Monostroma algae, which are grown in East Asia and South America and are used to wrap land, can block the coronavirus.

It has previously been found that Monostroma is useful for the prevention of Japanese encephalitis infection. The authors extracted RS from Monostroma nitidum powder and purified it. 

They then performed a detailed chemical analysis of the resulting substance-using nuclear resonance magnetic spectroscopy.

The results showed that rhamnan sulfate (RS) effectively binds the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, inhibits the ability of the coronavirus to attach and penetrate into cells, and inhibits the processes of transcription and translation. 

In experiments on cell cultures, it successfully neutralized a laboratory pseudovirus, including a variant with a set of mutations characteristic of the delta strain. 

Experts hope that rhamnan sulfate (RS), along with heparin and possibly other polysaccharides, could become a powerful tool against COVID-19.

Source: MDPI

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