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Review
. 2024 Jan 31;16(2):218.
doi: 10.3390/v16020218.

Medicinal Plants against Viral Infections: A Review of Metabolomics Evidence for the Antiviral Properties and Potentials in Plant Sources

Wilson Bamise Adeosun  1 , Du Toit Loots  1
Affiliations
Review

Medicinal Plants against Viral Infections: A Review of Metabolomics Evidence for the Antiviral Properties and Potentials in Plant Sources

Wilson Bamise Adeosun et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

Most plants have developed unique mechanisms to cope with harsh environmental conditions to compensate for their lack of mobility. A key part of their coping mechanisms is the synthesis of secondary metabolites. In addition to their role in plants' defense against pathogens, they also possess therapeutic properties against diseases, and their use by humans predates written history. Viruses are a unique class of submicroscopic agents, incapable of independent existence outside a living host. Pathogenic viruses continue to pose a significant threat to global health, leading to innumerable fatalities on a yearly basis. The use of medicinal plants as a natural source of antiviral agents has been widely reported in literature in the past decades. Metabolomics is a powerful research tool for the identification of plant metabolites with antiviral potentials. It can be used to isolate compounds with antiviral capacities in plants and study the biosynthetic pathways involved in viral disease progression. This review discusses the use of medicinal plants as antiviral agents, with a special focus on the metabolomics evidence supporting their efficacy. Suggestions are made for the optimization of various metabolomics methods of characterizing the bioactive compounds in plants and subsequently understanding the mechanisms of their operation.

Keywords: antiviral activity; medicinal plants; metabolomics; viral infections.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A schematic representation showing the mechanisms of action of the antiviral properties of phenolic compounds.
Figure 2
Figure 2
A schematic diagram showing the mechanism of the antiviral activities of alkaloids.
Figure 3
Figure 3
A schematic diagram showing the mechanism of the antiviral activities of terpenoids.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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