Protein translocation as a tool: The current rapamycin story

Abstract

In cell biology and pharmacology, small chemicals are mostly used as agonists and antagonists against receptors and enzymes. The immunosuppressant rapamycin can serve an entirely different purpose: if employed sensibly, it might function as an inducer of dimerization that is able to rapidly activate enzyme activity inside the intact cell. A number of very recent developments such as photoactivatable derivatives make rapamycin an even more attractive tool for basic science.