The New Delhi-based National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), an autonomous institution supported by the Department of Biotechnology, is testing the potential activity of identified molecules against Covid-19 in collaboration with the New Delhi-based International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), and Faridabad-based Regional Centre for Biotechnology.

Three research groups are rigorously involved in developing plant based vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and in exploring plant natural products that are potentially anti-viral in nature, said the institute.

Research has been conducted on the plant Nitotiana Benthamiana and it said that the leaf extracts of plants expressing the receptor-binding domain (RBD) and purified protein will be tested and used for immunisation of mice (in collaboration with ICGEB) with different doses to trigger a strong immune response against the virus.

“As plant-based vaccines provide the ease of administration and monitoring, developing such a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 would assist in executing mass immunisation drives,” the institution said in a recent document.

Plants produce a variety of natural products in responses to biotic stresses. One major category of plant specialized metabolites are flavonoids. Besides their role in plant biology, flavonoids are reported to have a variety of health benefits. NIPGR laboratory is working with flavonoids to find its applications towards promoting human health. Identifying anti-viral molecules that work against SARS-CoV-2 is of utmost importance in the fight against Covid- 19.

Keeping this in mind, possible flavonoids which shown to be or predicted to be active against RNA viruses based on literature search has been identified by the institution and molecular docking experiments to screen the potential flavonoids against coronavirus proteins such as receptor binding domain (RBD) densely glycosylated spike (S) protein, main protease (Mpro), etc. have been done.

The promising flavonoids were purified from banana peel (agro-waste) to perform the in vitro binding assay with Mpro of SARS-CoV-2 in collaboration with ICGEB, New Delhi. Using in silico and in vitro binding assay data, the potential flavonoids were screened and tested for their anti-viral activity at RCB, Faridabad. It is also testing the potential of glucose Olathe derived isothicyanate (ITC) from vegetables like Broccoli, for anti-viral activity against Covid-19