Novel pectin from crude polysaccharide of Syzygium aromaticum against SARS-CoV-2 activities by targeting 3CLpro

Abstract To date, COVID-19 is still a severe threat to public health, hence specific effective therapeutic drugs development against SARS-CoV-2 is urgent needed. 3CLpro and PLpro and RdRp are the enzymes required for the SARS-CoV-2 RNA synthesis. Therefore, binding to the enzyme may interfere the enzyme function. Before, we found that sulfated polysaccharide binding to 3CLpro might block the virus replication. Hence, we hypothesize that negative charged pectin glycan may also impede the virus replication. Here we show that 922 crude polysaccharide from Syzygium aromaticum may near completely block SARS-CoV-2 replication. The inhibition rate was 99.9% (EC 50 : 0.90 μM). Interestingly, 922 can associates with 3CLpro, PLpro and RdRp. We further show that the homogeneous glycan 922211 from 922 may specifically attenuate 3CL protease activity. The IC 50 s of 922 and 922211 against 3CLpro are 4.73 ± 1.05 µM and 0.18 ± 0.01 µM, respectively. Monosaccharide composition analysis reveals that 922211 with molecular weight of 78.7 kDa is composed of rhamnose, galacturonic acid, galactose and arabinose in the molar ratio of 8.21 : 37.81 : 3.58 : 4.49. The structure characterization demonstrated that 922211 is a homogalacturonan linked to RG-I pectin polysaccharide. The linear homogalacturonan part in the backbone may be partly methyl esterified while RG-I type part bearing 1, 4-linked α-Gal p A, 1, 4-linked α-Gal p AOMe and 1, 2, 4-linked α-Rha p . There are four branches attached to C-1 or C4 position of Rhamnose glycosyl residues on the backbone. The branches are composed of 1, 3-linked β-Gal p , terminal (T)-linked β-Gal p , 1, 5-linked α-Ara f , T-linked α-Ara f , 4-linked α-Gal p A and/or 4-linked β-Gal p A. The above results suggest that 922 and 922211 might be a potential novel leading compound for anti-SARS-CoV-2 new drug development.