My Lab
Kasetsart University : An efficient and reliable
in vitro study of human gut microbiota.
R ecently, the amount of human gut microbiota studies has been increasing. One of the drivers could be a large number of reports on the effects of gut microbiota on the host's health. Nutrition has become an essential factor in gut microbiota modulation, which impacts the host's health. Human intervention studies are the best way to study the gut microbiota and host interaction, but these are also expensive and hampered by ethical constrains. Similarly, animal model is also important for gut microbiome. However, the microbial composition in animal differs from human. The in vitro study that mimics human gut physiology is alternative way. The gut model facilitates unlimited screening possibility of samples and lowering study costs. This model investigates circumventing ethical constrains and facilitating continuous monitoring and sampling possibilities under standardized conditions.
What is gut model, and how’s it works?
This could be achieved by employing a reactor to simulate the human GI tract, also known as gut model. The gut model has a significant benefit in gut microbiome research. How does the gut model work? A gut model is a fermentation system that mimics the state of the human gut (typically the colon part). The fermentation emulates the growth of gut bacteria in the real gut by utilizing "gut broth" and fresh stool as the inoculum. Compounds of interest can also be included to observe how they affect the gut microbiota. Moreover, the newest version of gut models could also cover specific parts of the human gastrointestinal (GI tract), such as the mouth, stomach, small intestine, and colon. Thus, increasing the versatility of gut models for gut microbiota study.
Batch fermentation and dynamic fermentation models are provided in Research Unit of Probiotic and Prebiotic for Health, faculty of Agro-industry, Kasetsart University, Thailand.
Prof. S.K. Khare,
FRSC, FBRS, FAMSc, FNAAS
Dean R&D & Institute Chair Professor of Biochemistry
Enzyme and Microbial Biochemistry Lab
Department of Chemistry
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
New Delhi-110016
Dear AFOB members,
I am pleased to share good news from my research group. My students Ms. Syeda Warisul Fatima and Mr. Shahenvaz Alam have worked on the interesting aspect during pandemic. Their work entitled: “Molecular and structural insights of β-boswellic acid and glycyrrhizic acid as potent SARS-CoV-2 Envelope protein inhibitors” have been accepted for special issue on Coronavirus in Phytomedicine Plus Journal, Elsevier.
The present study was carried out to look for potential antiviral agents to combat COVID-19. The background of the novel study is as follows: Over million people have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide, with around 3% reported deaths till date. A few conventional antiviral treatments have been tried to mitigate the coronavirus. However, many alternative therapeutics are being evaluated worldwide. In the present study, we investigated traditional Indian medicinal compounds antiviral potencies as an effective drug for targeting SARS-CoV-2E. SARS-CoV-2 E protein plays a key role in coronavirus life cycle and is an interesting target for the development of anti-SARS-CoV-2 E drugs.
Methods
Molecular docking studies of medicinal compounds possessing wide range of pharmacological and antiviral activities against enveloped viruses were evaluated with the computer-aided drug design screening software; PyRx. Twelve medicinal compounds isolated from plants were screened and visualized on Biovia Discovery-Studio. Moreover, SARS-CoV-2 E protein's secondary structural insights were deciphered using Swiss Model and ProFunc web server.
Results
Glycyrrhizic acid, triterpene glycoside isolated from plants of Glycyrrhiza (licorice) showed interactions with envelope protein at chain A: Arg 61, chain B: Phe 23, chain B: Tyr 57, and chain C: Val 25. β- boswellic acid, an ayurvedic herb (pentacyclic terpenoid are produced by Boswellia) represented direct interactions and indirect binding with chain C. Their pharmacological aspects and drug-likeness properties were deduced by DruLiTo. Toxicological assessment, along with their ADME profiling, was validated using vNNADMET. The findings showed that ligands, β-boswellic acid, and glycyrrhizic acid possessed the best bindings, with the target having binding affinity (-9.1 kcal/mol) amongst compounds tested against SARS-CoV-2 E. In-vitro studies reveals the promising effect as potent SARS-CoV-2 E inhibitors. Functionality loss and structural disruptions with ∼90% were observed by UV-spectra and fluorescent based analyses.
Conclusion
The study demonstrated that β-boswellic acid, and glycyrrhizic acid are strong SARS-CoV-2 E protein inhibitors. In addition, the work linked GA antiviral activity to its effect on SARS-CoV- 2 E protein that can pave the way for designing antiviral therapeutics.
These findings provide a rational basis for understanding drugs interaction with SARS-CoV-2 E for finding new compounds to cope with COVID-19 pandemic.