Close Encounters of a Third Kind Ammosamides

12 Close Encounters of a Third Kind Ammosamides, Blebbestatin and Myosin 

Using an antibody elicited against the IAF tag, immunoprecipitation studies conducted on cells and lysates treated with the IAF probe identified myosin as a primary target. Interestingly, this protein appeared fluorescent after SDS-PAGE analysis suggesting that a covalent attachment was made between the natural product (or its IAF tag) and the protein. While these effects were not seen in control experiments, myosin was validated as a target of the ammosamides by a combination of in vitro analyses and immunoprecipitation studies. 

Further studies examining the specification of these probes in live cells and tissues indicated that the ammosamides did not only target myosin II within muscle but also suggested affinity to other classes of myosin. These studies show, in addition to synthetic materials such as blebbistatin, natural products are also capable of targeting myosin.206 

These studies, like the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, suggest an additional paradigm within the cytoskeleton that now moves from the well-established targeting of the structural proteins (i.e. actin, microtubules or intermediate filaments) but moves further along the process to regulate their motion. 

In our world, it is hard to imagine a day without film or media. In the same venue, what would drug discovery be without the natural product I predict that, while it may be quiet on set , drug discovery and its investors are likely to return to natural products as a fundamental resource and the claims that they are ready to shoot will again be heard through the discovery sector. Thus, I conclude it is time to stop worrying about the importance or relevance of natural products within the pharmaceutical sector and get out and film. 

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