SARS-CoV-2 Inhibiting Metabolites Identified

Scientists at Rockefeller University have identified metabolites in the human microbiome that inhibit COVID-19 infection in cell-based models of the virus. Their findings were published this week in mSphere. 

“We have found that bacteria that grow on and in you make specific molecules that can inhibit, at least in a laboratory setting, the cell-based viral infection of SARS-CoV-2, and the molecules appear to do that by a number of different mechanisms,” said principal investigator Sean Brady. In the new study, Brady and colleagues used a cell-based SARS-CoV-2 infection assay to screen metabolites from a sample of bacteria from the human microbiome. They identified 3 bacterial metabolites capable of inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 infection: an adenosine analogue, tryptamine and a disubstituted pyrazine.

The researchers say these molecules could serve as starting points for the development of new antivirals. In addition, researchers could deliver the antiviral-producing bacteria as a therapeutic intervention. As more data becomes available, they also plan to examine whether the presence or absence of these antiviral-producing bacteria in humans can be linked to the severity of viral infection.

“Our discovery of structurally diverse metabolites with anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity from screening a small fraction of the bacteria reported to be associated with the human microbiome suggests that continued exploration of phylogenetically diverse human-associated bacteria is likely to uncover additional small molecules that inhibit SARS-CoV-2 as well as other viral infections,” said Brady.