Structure and Diversity

Drugs bind targets. The structure of a drug and its target are therefore closely related. If one understands the structure of the target, then important elements of the drug can generally be inferred. For this reason, the discovery team seeks out as much information on 

This section deals exclusively with protein targets enzymes and receptors. Is not the structure of oligonucleotides also important It certainly is. The difference between proteins and oligonucleotides, especially DNA, is that proteins are far less predictable in terms of structure. An essentially universal structure like the double helix of DNA has no parallel in the world of proteins. Considerable research effort is expended on determining the three-dimensional structure of target proteins. 

A protein will generally have one or more random coil regions in its overall structure Random coils, as the name suggests, do not have a regular, folded structure and undergo 

FIGURE 9.1 Electron density maps of varying resolution. (Used by permission of Dr. Paul Emsley, Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford.) 

The value of a quality x-ray structure to the discovery team cannot be overestimated. However, an x-ray structure is not always available. In this situation, the structure of a protein target can sometimes be estimated, at least partially, by NMR. NMR-elucidated structures have one clear advantage over x-ray structures. NMR data is obtained on a protein that is dissolved in an aqueous solution, just as proteins exist in a living organism. X-ray data is based on proteins in the solid state, so the effect of solvent is less well documented in the resulting structure. 

---

Colman PM, Ward CW (1985) Structure and diversity of influenza virus neuraminidase. Curr Top Microbiol Immunol 114 177-255... 

Meisami E. and Bhatnagar K. (1998). Structure and diversity in mammalian accessory olfactory bulb. Micros Res Tech 43, 476-499. 

To remain a step ahead of life-threatening pathogens, it is essential to understand the chemical nature, structure, and diverse modes of action for bacterial toxins which represent some of the most toxic substances known today. Based upon this information, new vaccines can be created against specific domains of a toxin or perhaps cellular uptake of the toxins can be blocked by specific pharmacological inhibitors. Therefore, it will be of lasting impact to transfer our increasing knowledge of bacterial toxins from the laboratory bench into the clinic. 

Dida, M. M., Wanyera, N., Dunn, M. L. H., Jeffrey, L., Bennetzen, J. L., and Devos, K. M. (2008). Population structure and diversity in finger millet (Eleusine coracana) germplasm. Trap. Plant Biol. 1,131-141. 

Burd, C.G. and Dreyfuss, G. (1994) Conserved structures and diversity of functions of RNA-binding proteins. Science, 265,615-621. 

What is the productivity of the Arctic Ocean, and what is the structure and diversity of higher trophic levels ... 

This resource is maintained by the Molecular Biology Notebook Online project. It provides a wealth of information on the most important aspects of molecular biology such as life, structure and components of the cell, chromosome and DNA structure, protein structure, and diversity. 

BIOSTAR Tripos Inc. (St. Louis, MO, U.S.A.) Macintosh -based (4-DL) Around S20K Compound registration, assay assignment, data analysis, data storage and retrieval, easy interface with chemical structure and diversity software offered by Tripos Only on Macintosh, difficult to customize, cannot execute cross-plate operations... 

---