Inverse drug screens: a rapid and inexpensive method for implicating molecular targets.

ABSTRACT: Identification of gene products that function in some specific process of interest is a common goal in developmental biology. Although use of drug compounds to probe biological systems has a very long history in teratology and toxicology, systematic hierarchical drug screening has not been capitalized upon by the developmental biology community. This "chemical genetics" approach can greatly benefit the study of embryonic and regenerative systems, and we have formalized a strategy for using known pharmacological compounds to implicate specific molecular candidates in any chosen biological phenomenon. Taking advantage of a hierarchical structure that can be imposed on drug reagents in a number of fields such as ion transport, neurotransmitter function, metabolism, and cytoskeleton, any assay

SUBMITTER: Adams DS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3142945 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature