Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Commentary
  • Published:

Challenges for the 'chemical-systems' biologist

As the field of chemical biology matures, its practitioners are tackling ever more sophisticated biological problems. Chemical approaches, both synthetic and analytical, provide researchers with powerful new technologies to perturb, dissect and even reconstruct complex biological systems. Here we discuss the special challenges and opportunities confronted at the burgeoning interface of chemical and systems biology.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Chemical strategies to profile post-translationally modified proteins with engineered enzymes.
Figure 2: Chemoproteomic strategy to characterize the selectivity of bioactive small molecules in vivo.

References

  1. Crick, F.H., Barnett, L., Brenner, S. & Watts-Tobin, R.J. Nature 192, 1227–1232 (1961).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Blethrow, J.D., Glavy, J.S., Morgan, D.O. & Shokat, K.M. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105, 1442–1447 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Khidekel, N., Ficarro, S.B., Peters, E.C. & Hsieh-Wilson, L.C. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101, 13132–13137 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Dalhoff, C., Lukinavicius, G., Klimasauskas, S. & Weinhold, E. Nat. Chem. Biol. 2, 31–32 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Kolb, H.C., Finn, M.G. & Sharpless, K.B. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 40, 2004–2021 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Cravatt, B.F., Wright, A.T. & Kozarich, J.W. Annu. Rev. Biochem. 77, 383–414 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Greenbaum, D. et al. Mol. Cell. Proteomics 1, 60–68 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Jessani, N. et al. Nat. Methods 2, 691–697 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Weerapana, E., Simon, G.M. & Cravatt, B.F. Nat. Chem. Biol. 4, 405–407 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Lee, J., Yu, P., Xiao, X. & Kodadek, T. Mol. Biosyst. 4, 59–65 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Salisbury, C.M. & Cravatt, B.F. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104, 1171–1176 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Cohen, M.S., Hadjivassiliou, H. & Taunton, J. Nat. Chem. Biol. 3, 156–160 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Evans, M.J., Saghatelian, A., Sorensen, E.J. & Cravatt, B.F. Nat. Biotechnol. 23, 1303–1307 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Arastu-Kapur, S. et al. Nat. Chem. Biol. 4, 203–213 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Ahn, K. et al. Biochemistry 46, 13019–13030 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Robertson, J.G. Biochemistry 44, 5561–5571 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Knight, Z.A. & Shokat, K.M. Cell 128, 425–430 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Burdine, L. & Kodadek, T. Chem. Biol. 11, 593–597 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Weiss, W.A., Taylor, S.S. & Shokat, K.M. Nat. Chem. Biol. 3, 739–744 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Wong, S. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101, 17456–17461 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Chen, S. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103, 17266–17271 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Mahrus, S. et al. Cell 134, 866–876 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Dix, M.M., Simon, G.M. & Cravatt, B.F. Cell 134, 679–691 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Wells, J.A. & McClendon, C.L. Nature 450, 1001–1009 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Alexander, J.P. & Cravatt, B.F. Chem. Biol. 12, 1179–1187 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Simon, G., Cravatt, B. Challenges for the 'chemical-systems' biologist. Nat Chem Biol 4, 639–642 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio1108-639

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio1108-639

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing