No abstract

Identifying the molecular targets for the beneficial or detrimental effects of small-molecule drugs is an important and currently unmet challenge. We have developed a method, drug affinity responsive target stability (DARTS), which takes advantage of a reduction in the protease susceptibility of the target protein upon drug binding. DARTS is universally applicable because it requires no modification of the drug and is independent of the mechanism of drug action. We demonstrate use of DARTS to identify known small-molecule-protein interactions and to reveal the eukaryotic translation initiation machinery as a molecular target for the longevity-enhancing plant natural product resveratrol. We envisage that DARTS will also be useful in global mapping of protein-metabolite interaction networks and in label-free screening of unlimited varieties of compounds for development as molecular imaging agents.aging ͉ label-free ͉ proteomics ͉ small molecules

The concept of electronic dimensionality,i.e., the connectivity of the atomic orbitals that comprise the lower conduction band and upper valence band, is introduced to better account for the device performance of the perovskite-based solar cells.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease that involves the destruction of articular cartilage and eventually leads to disability. Molecules that promote the selective differentiation of multipotent mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into chondrocytes may stimulate the repair of damaged cartilage. Using an image-based high-throughput screen, we identified the small molecule kartogenin, which promotes chondrocyte differentiation (median effective concentration = 100 nM), shows chondroprotective effects in vitro, and is efficacious in two OA animal models. Kartogenin binds filamin A, disrupts its interaction with the transcription factor core-binding factor β subunit (CBFβ), and induces chondrogenesis by regulating the CBFβ-RUNX1 transcriptional program. This work provides new insights into the control of chondrogenesis that may ultimately lead to a stem cell-based therapy for osteoarthritis.

Understanding the cell type-specific molecular mechanisms by which distinct signaling pathways combinatorially control proliferation during organogenesis is a central issue in development and disease. Here, we report that the bicoid-related transcription factor Pitx2 is rapidly induced by the Wnt/Dvl/beta-catenin pathway and is required for effective cell-type-specific proliferation by directly activating specific growth-regulating genes. Regulated exchange of HDAC1/beta-catenin converts Pitx2 from repressor to activator, analogous to control of TCF/LEF1. Pitx2 then serves as a competence factor required for the temporally ordered and growth factor-dependent recruitment of a series of specific coactivator complexes that prove necessary for Cyclin D2 gene induction. The molecular strategy underlying interactions between the Wnt and growth factor-dependent signaling pathways in cardiac outflow tract and pituitary proliferation is likely to be prototypic of cell-specific proliferation strategies in other tissues.