Melanin and its Precursors as Effective Antiviral Compounds:

Abstract

Melanins are ubiquitous pigment which plays a diverse role in organisms ranging from bacteria to human beings. Its unique properties made it an important compound for study in diverse fields from electronics to drug discovery. Melanin and precursors have proved to be good antiviral candidate against many viruses. It has shown to inhibit replication of HIV-1 and HIV-2. Insilico studies proved that it can also interact with furin protein which is an important protein in SARS CoV2 pathogenesis. Our present study proved that melanin precursors like 5,6-dihydroxyindole-2-carboxylic acid (DHICA) and l-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L DOPA) strongly interacts with the spike protein of the CoV2. All these studies prove melanin and its precursors could be utilized as effective antiviral compounds