Inhibitory potential of Morus alba leaf extract and its phytoconstituent against SARS-CoV-2 main protease: An integrative in silico and in vitro analysis.
Malik A, Noreen S, Ijaz B.
Medicinal Plants
White mulberry trees grow as volunteers in vacant lots, hedgerows, and backyard edges across much of North America — and their leaves, long used in traditional medicine, may harbor compounds with real antiviral firepower.
White mulberry is a tree most people know for staining sidewalks with its berries, but scientists tested its leaves against the enzyme the COVID virus uses to copy itself. The leaf extract nearly shut that enzyme down in lab cells, and when they looked more closely at the individual chemicals inside the leaf, one called naringin (also found in grapefruit) grabbed onto the viral enzyme more tightly than the prescription antiviral Paxlovid. More lab work is needed to confirm this works against a live virus, but it's a striking early result from a plant most gardeners overlook.
Key Findings
White mulberry leaf extract inhibited SARS-CoV-2 main protease expression by up to 99% at the mRNA level (IC₅₀ = 105 μg/mL) and up to 80% at the protein level in CHO cells.
Three compounds — naringin, nicotiflorin, and cyclomorusin — showed stronger predicted binding to the viral enzyme (-9.6 to -9.8 kcal/mol) than the reference drug nirmatrelvir (-9.0 kcal/mol).
Molecular dynamics simulation identified naringin as the most stable inhibitor candidate, with the lowest binding free energy of -63.03 kcal/mol among the top hits.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Researchers found that an extract from white mulberry leaves can suppress a key SARS-CoV-2 enzyme by up to 99% in lab cells, and computational screening identified the compound naringin as the most promising natural inhibitor — outperforming the pharmaceutical drug nirmatrelvir in predicted binding strength.
Abstract Preview
The SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro is crucial for viral replication and is therefore recognized as a promising drug target. In this study, the 3CLpro gene was cloned and transiently expressed in CHO cells to es...
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Morus alba, known as white mulberry, common mulberry and silkworm mulberry, is a fast-growing, small to medium-sized mulberry tree which grows to 10–20 m (33–66 ft) tall. It is native to China and is widely cultivated and naturalized elsewhere. The species is widely cultivated to feed the silkwor...