Research report 2005 - Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology

Structural Classification of Ligand Binding Protein Cores and Natural Products as Guiding Principles for Chemical Genomics

Authors
Koch, Markus; Wetzel, Stefan; Waldmann, Herbert
Departments

Chemische Biologie (Prof. Dr. Herbert Waldmann)
MPI für molekulare Physiologie, Dortmund

Summary
For the development of small molecules for chemical biology and medicinal chemistry research relevance in nature is the decisive criterion. For the identification of biologically relevant and prevalidated starting points in vast structural space for compound collection development structural similarities in the ligand sensing cores of proteins and in their natural ligands, i. e the small natural products emerging by biosynthesis, are identified. This analysis is used for similarity clustering of proteins and structural classification of natural products. This approach at the MPI for Molecular Physiology leads to hypothesis-generating tools setting the starting points for chemical genomics research, i. e. the identification and use of small molecules to elucidate the biological function of protein families.

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