{"id":782895,"date":"2026-05-08T22:37:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T22:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/782895\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T22:37:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T22:37:12","slug":"plant-found-in-obscure-brazilian-rainforest-seems-weirdly-good-at-fighting-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/782895\/","title":{"rendered":"Plant Found in Obscure Brazilian Rainforest Seems Weirdly Good at Fighting Covid-19"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly a quarter of all plant species on Earth\u2014or roughly 55,000 unique flora, by some<\/a> estimates\u2014currently call Brazil their home. The United Nations, in fact, classifies<\/a> Brazil as the globe\u2019s leading \u201cmega-biodiverse\u201d nation, \u201cunmatched by any other.\u201d And, while one might attribute this staggering ecological richness solely to Brazil\u2019s 60% chunk of the Amazon, the fact remains that the nation owes much of its mega-diversity to another, lesser-known, rainforest along its eastern coast: Mata Atlantica.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, an international team of biologists, immunologists, and pharmaceutical chemists discovered something interesting about a plant endemic to this region. Leaves of Copaifera lucens Dwyer, a tree primarily found in Mata Atlantica, contain a chemical compound capable of neutralizing<\/a> covid-19 via a \u201cmultitarget mode of action\u201d that disables the deadly virus\u2019s arsenal of spike proteins and enzymes, according to the team\u2019s new study.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany current antivirals act on only one viral protein,\u201d according to a statement<\/a> by pharmacist Jairo Kenupp Bastos, a professor at the Ribeir\u00e3o Preto School of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (FCFRP-USP), who coordinated this project.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn important aspect revealed by this information is the multi-target mechanism of the compound, which reduces the likelihood of resistance developing,\u201d Bastos said.<\/p>\n

In other words, this compound\u2014really a variety of extracts from Copaifera lucens called galloylquinic acids\u2014might be able to beat covid-19 in ways that the virus can\u2019t easily mutate to avoid, slowing the deadly impact of future variants.<\/p>\n

No less impressive, the variety of galloylquinic acids found in the plant also appears to inhibit HIV-1, among other<\/a> antiviral and antifungal properties that inspired the new research.<\/p>\n

Exotic tannins <\/p>\n

Ultimately, the galloylquinic acids found in Copaifera lucens are a subset of tannins, an astringent class of biochemicals you might be familiar with from tea leaves and red wine.<\/p>\n

The researchers found six further subcategories of galloylquinic acid within the plant, identified via ultraviolet spectroscopy methods, after distilling these chemicals from dried, pulverized, and specially treated C. lucens leaf samples.<\/p>\n

\"CopaiferaLeaves of Copaifera lucens Dwyer. Credit: Geovane Siqueira via iNaturalist, CC 2.0 <\/p>\n

According to their study, one molecular configuration of the acid, 3,4,5-tri-galloylquinic acid, displayed<\/a> a \u201cstrong binding affinity\u201d with the receptor binding domains of covid-19\u2019s infamous spike protein, the protruding mechanism by which the virus latches onto the surface of human cells.<\/p>\n

Further tests with these acids, including plaque reduction neutralization assays, often called<\/a> the \u201cgold standard\u201d for testing antiviral potential, showed that safe concentrations of galloylquinic acid also latched on and neutralized covid\u2019s papain-like protease enzyme, which helps the virus evade immune system responses, as well as RNA polymerase, an enzyme essential to covid\u2019s viral replication.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis integrated approach allowed us to understand how the compounds work and how they act at the molecular level,\u201d as study coauthor Mohamed Abdelsalam, an assistant professor with the Delta University of Science and Technology in Egypt, explained in a statement.<\/p>\n

Brazil\u2019s \u2018zero deforestation\u2019 pledge <\/p>\n

Brazil\u2019s current president Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva won his reelection in 2022, in part, on a platform vowing<\/a> to reach net \u201czero deforestation\u201d across the nation. It\u2019s a promise Lula has largely made good on: data<\/a> from the independent satellite research group Global Forest Watch reported that deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon dropped by 36% during his first year back in office.<\/p>\n

The gains look especially impressive amid deforestation due to record wildfires<\/a>, which burned an area of Brazilian rainforest larger than Italy in 2024, to say nothing of civil servant strikes and local black market economies built<\/a> on legally dubious land grabs, logging, and mining.<\/p>\n

The S\u00e3o Paulo Research Foundation, which helped fund<\/a> the new research, noted that this project underscores the value of Brazil\u2019s biodiversity not only to the nation\u2019s economy but to global public health as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cA few more steps remain before the substance can be developed into a drug against covid-19, including in vivo and clinical trials,\u201d the foundation noted. \u201cHowever, the study \u2026 also reinforces the idea that Brazilian flora is a rich and strategic source for discovering new drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nearly a quarter of all plant species on Earth\u2014or roughly 55,000 unique flora, by some estimates\u2014currently call Brazil…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":782896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4214,4788,4140,271515,159,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-782895","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-brazil","9":"tag-conservation","10":"tag-covid-19","11":"tag-medical-discoveries","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116541355536023734","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=782895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=782895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=782895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=782895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}