Chemicals call bacteria, and a new membrane protein machine answers.
A major challenge in biology is the discovery of the processes controlled by the roughly one-third of genes with no known function. One approach being explored to address this problem is the use of small molecules in conjunction with genetics-chemical genetics. A short review of this field is provided as an introduction to a series of papers in this issue of Cell in which a new type of chemical genetics revealed the function of a new outer membrane protein complex in bacteria.
Shokat
Kevan M
KM
Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143, USA. shokat@cmp.ucsf.edu
D001419:Bacteria / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*
D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins