Eco-Friendly Cinnamic Acid Derivatives Containing Glycoside Scaffolds as Potential Antiviral Agents

Natural products are a crucial source in the development
of new
eco-friendly antiviral agents to control plant viral diseases. In
our previous studies, some ferulic acid derivatives with good antiviral
activity were obtained as an immune activator. To continue the discovery
of eco-friendly antiviral agents, different monosaccharides were introduced
into cinnamic acid skeletons by an activity-based strategy to obtain
a series of cinnamic acid derivatives containing glycoside scaffolds,
and their antiviral activities against tobacco mosaic virus (TMV)
and tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) were evaluated. Among them, compound 8d showed the greatest protective activities against TMV and
TSWV, with the EC50 values of 128.5 and 236.8 μg
mL–1, respectively, which were superior to those
of ningnanmycin (238.5 and 315.7 μg mL–1,
respectively). Moreover, compound 8d could significantly
improve the defense enzyme activities of peroxidase, chitinase, and
β-1,3-glucanase. Proteomic and transcriptome analyses indicated
that compound 8d regulated gene transcription and protein
expression levels involved in the defense response to resist virus
infection. The present study revealed that compound 8d is a potential lead candidate for the development of novel, eco-friendly,
and natural-product-based antiviral agents.