Site-specific labeling of proteins with small molecules in live cells

Irwin Chen; Alice Y Ting

doi:10.1016/j.copbio.2004.12.003

Site-specific labeling of proteins with small molecules in live cells

Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2005 Feb;16(1):35-40. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2004.12.003.

Authors

Irwin Chen¹, Alice Y Ting

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

PMID: 15722013
DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2004.12.003

Abstract

The principal bottleneck for the utilization of small-molecule probes in live cells is the shortage of methodologies for targeting them with very high specificity to biological molecules or compartments of interest. Recently developed methods for labeling proteins with small-molecule probes in cells employ special protein or peptide handles that recruit small-molecule ligands, harness enzymes to catalyze small-molecule conjugation or hijack the cell's protein translation machinery.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Cell Physiological Phenomena*
Gene Expression Profiling / methods*
Humans
Molecular Biology / methods
Molecular Probe Techniques*
Molecular Probes / analysis
Molecular Probes / chemistry
Molecular Probes / metabolism
Proteins / analysis*
Proteins / chemistry
Proteins / metabolism*
Staining and Labeling / methods*

Substances

Molecular Probes
Proteins