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Chemical biology at the crossroads of molecular structure and mechanism

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Chemical insight into biological function is the holy grail of structural biology. Small molecules are central players as building blocks, effectors and probes of macromolecular structure and function.

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Figure 1: Osmium hexammine is a structural mimic of hexahydrated magnesium ion.
Figure 2: Crystal structure of the Haloarcula marismortui 50S ribosomal subunit5.
Figure 3: Approach to determining physiological activities of kinases by specific sensitization to chemical inhibitors.

Suphoj Chancheaw

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Acknowledgements

I thank K. Berry and J. Cate for helpful discussions and comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and the Department of Chemistry, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, 94705, California, USA

    Jennifer A Doudna

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  1. Jennifer A Doudna
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Doudna, J. Chemical biology at the crossroads of molecular structure and mechanism. Nat Chem Biol 1, 300–303 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio1105-300

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