Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2011 Jun;15(3):350-4.
doi: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2011.03.004. Epub 2011 Apr 12.

Role of natural product diversity in chemical biology

Jiyong Hong  1
Affiliations
Review

Role of natural product diversity in chemical biology

Jiyong Hong. Curr Opin Chem Biol. 2011 Jun.

Abstract

Through the natural selection process, natural products possess a unique and vast chemical diversity and have been evolved for optimal interactions with biological macromolecules. Owing to their diversity, target affinity, and specificity, natural products have demonstrated enormous potential as modulators of biomolecular function, been an essential source for drug discovery, and provided design principles for combinatorial library development.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Natural product diversity
Figure 2
Figure 2
Examples of natural products used in chemical biology and drug discovery
Figure 3
Figure 3
Comparison of target-oriented synthesis (TOS) and diversity-oriented synthesis (DOS)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Schreiber SL. The small-molecule approach to biology. Chem Eng News. 2003;81:51–61.
    1. Stockwell BR. Exploring biology with small organic molecules. Nature. 2004;432:846–854. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wurdak H, Zhu S, Min KH, Aimone L, Lairson LL, Watson J, Chopiuk G, Demas J, Charette B, Weerapana E, Cravatt BF, Cline HT, Peters EC, Zhang J, Walker JR, Wu C, Chang J, Tuntland T, Cho CY, Schultz PG. A small molecule accelerates neuronal differentiation in the adult rat. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2010;107:16542–16547. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bradner JE, Mak R, Tanguturi SK, Mazitschek R, Haggarty SJ, Ross K, Chang CY, Bosco J, West N, Morse E, Lin K, Shen JP, Kwiatkowski NP, Gheldof N, Dekker J, DeAngelo DJ, Carr SA, Schreiber SL, Golub TR, Ebert BL. Chemical genetic strategy identifies histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) and HDAC2 as therapeutic targets in sickle cell disease. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2010;107:12617–12622. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Clardy J, Walsh C. Lessons from natural molecules. Nature. 2004;432:829–837. A discussion of the rich structural diversity and complexity of natural products. - PubMed

Publication types

Substances

LinkOut - more resources