Exploring Biology with Small Organic Molecules

doi:10.1017/CBO9781139021500.004

Chapter 2 - Exploring Biology with Small Organic Molecules

from Section one - Overviews

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012

Nicholas Aberle and

Craig M. Crews

Edited by

Haian Fu

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Haian Fu: Affiliation:
Emory University, Atlanta

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Summary

From Chemical Genetics to Chemical Genomics

Small molecules have long been recognized as an invaluable part of human medicine. Well before chemistry, biology, and chemical genomics were established as scientific disciplines, people routinely used plants to treat and prevent illnesses. Not until the advent of modern science, however, were we able to isolate and identify the active ingredients that conferred on the flora around us such a vast array of effects. Along with synthetic and semisynthetic molecules, these naturally occurring compounds have formed the cornerstone of today's therapeutics and have provided a way of improving our understanding of fundamental biological processes.

Exploration of these processes using chemical genetics requires certain basic elements common to all studies: 1) a small molecule with good target specificity, 2) a protein of interest, 3) a phenotype that is being investigated, and 4) an assay or screen that will bring these elements together to provide useful information (Figure 2.1).

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Type: Chapter
Information: Chemical Genomics , pp. 10 - 25

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139021500.004 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2012

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