scholarly journals SCAN ™—A High-Throughput Assay for Detecting Small Molecule Binding to RNA Targets

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 219-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Baugh ◽  
Shaohui Wang ◽  
Bin Li ◽  
James R. Appleman ◽  
Peggy A. Thompson

A novel optical-based high-throughput screening technology has been developed for increasing the rate of discovering chemical leads against RNA targets. SCAN™ ( Screen for Compounds with Affinity for Nucleic Acids) is an affinity-based assay that identifies small molecules that bind and recognize structured RNA elements. This technology provides the opportunity to conduct high-throughput screening of a new class of targets—RNA. SCAN™ offers many attractive features including a simple homogeneous format, low screening costs, and the ability to use common laboratory equipment. A SCAN™ assay was developed for the HCV IRES Loop IIId RNA domain. A high-throughput screen of our entire compound library resulted in the identification of small molecule ligands that bind to Loop IIId. The Z′ values were greater than 0.8, showing this to be a robust high-throughput screening assay. A correlation between SCAN™ EC50 and KD values is reported suggesting the ability to use the assay for compound optimization. ( Journal of Biomolecular Screening 2009:219-229)

2009 ◽  
Vol 53 (10) ◽  
pp. 4441-4449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgia Lefas ◽  
George Chaconas

ABSTRACT Lyme disease, the most common vector-borne zoonosis in North America, is caused by the spirochetal pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi. The telomere resolvase encoded by this organism (ResT) promotes the formation of covalently closed hairpin ends on the linear DNA molecules of B. burgdorferi through a two-step transesterification. ResT is essential for survival and is therefore an attractive target for the development of highly specific antiborrelial drugs. To identify ResT inhibitors, a novel fluorescence-based high-throughput assay was developed and used to screen a library of 27,520 small-molecule drug-like compounds. Six confirmed inhibitors of ResT, with 50% inhibitory concentrations between 2 and 10 μM, were identified. The inhibitors were characterized further and were grouped into three distinct classes based on their inhibitory features. The high-throughput screening assay developed in this paper, along with the six inhibitory compounds identified, provides a starting point for the future development of novel antiborrelial drugs as well as small-molecule inhibitors that will be helpful for the further dissection of the reaction mechanism.


2021 ◽  
pp. 247255522110006
Author(s):  
Lesley-Anne Pearson ◽  
Charlotte J. Green ◽  
De Lin ◽  
Alain-Pierre Petit ◽  
David W. Gray ◽  
...  

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) represents a significant threat to human health. Despite its similarity to related coronaviruses, there are currently no specific treatments for COVID-19 infection, and therefore there is an urgent need to develop therapies for this and future coronavirus outbreaks. Formation of the cap at the 5′ end of viral RNA has been shown to help coronaviruses evade host defenses. Nonstructural protein 14 (nsp14) is responsible for N7-methylation of the cap guanosine in coronaviruses. This enzyme is highly conserved among coronaviruses and is a bifunctional protein with both N7-methyltransferase and 3′-5′ exonuclease activities that distinguish nsp14 from its human equivalent. Mutational analysis of SARS-CoV nsp14 highlighted its role in viral replication and translation efficiency of the viral genome. In this paper, we describe the characterization and development of a high-throughput assay for nsp14 utilizing RapidFire technology. The assay has been used to screen a library of 1771 Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs. From this, we have validated nitazoxanide as a selective inhibitor of the methyltransferase activity of nsp14. Although modestly active, this compound could serve as a starting point for further optimization.


2011 ◽  
Vol 413 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Segers ◽  
Hugo Klaassen ◽  
Anastasios Economou ◽  
Patrick Chaltin ◽  
Jozef Anné

2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 391-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chongbo Sun ◽  
Yvette Newbatt ◽  
Leon Douglas ◽  
Paul Workman ◽  
Wynne Aherne ◽  
...  

STK15/Aurora2 is a centrosome-associated serine/threonine kinase, the protein levels and kinase activity of which rise during G2 and mitosis. STK15 overexpression induces tumorigenesis and is amplified in various human cancers and tumor cell lines. Thus, STK15 represents an important therapeutic target for small molecule inhibitors that would disrupt its activity and block cell proliferation. The availability of a robust and selective small molecule inhibitor would also provide a useful tool for identification of the potential role of STK15 in cell cycle regulation and tumor development. The authors report the development of a novel, fast, simple microplate assay for STK15 activity suitable for high-throughput screening. In the assay, γ-33P-ATP and STK15 were incubated in a myelin basic protein (MBP)-coated FlashPlate® to generate a scintillation signal. The assay was reproducible, the signal-to-noise ratio was high (11) and the Z′ factor was 0.69. The assay was easily adapted to a robotic system for drug discovery programs targeting STK15. The authors also demonstrate that STK15 is regulated by phosphorylation and the N-amino terminal domain of the protein. Treatment with phosphatase inhibitors (okadaic acid) or deletion of the N-amino terminal domain results in a significant increase in the enzymatic activity.


2017 ◽  
Vol 292 (30) ◽  
pp. 12577-12588 ◽  
Author(s):  
Subhanita Ghosh ◽  
Abhinav Kaushik ◽  
Sachin Khurana ◽  
Aditi Varshney ◽  
Avishek Kumar Singh ◽  
...  

PLoS ONE ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. e90766 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nisan Bhattacharyya ◽  
Xin Hu ◽  
Catherine Z. Chen ◽  
Lesley A. Mathews Griner ◽  
Wei Zheng ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 132 (2) ◽  
pp. 248-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Gustafsson ◽  
Sofi Nielsen ◽  
Jane McPheat ◽  
Fredrik Wågberg ◽  
Karin Kaspersson ◽  
...  

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 738-751 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janina Preuss ◽  
Michael Hedrick ◽  
Eduard Sergienko ◽  
Anthony Pinkerton ◽  
Arianna Mangravita-Novo ◽  
...  

Plasmodium falciparum causes severe malaria infections in millions of people every year. The parasite is developing resistance to the most common antimalarial drugs, which creates an urgent need for new therapeutics. A promising and attractive target for antimalarial drug design is the bifunctional enzyme glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase-6-phosphogluconolactonase (PfGluPho) of P. falciparum, which catalyzes the key step in the parasites’ pentose phosphate pathway. In this study, we describe the development of a high-throughput screening assay to identify small-molecule inhibitors of recombinant PfGluPho. The optimized assay was used to screen three small-molecule compound libraries—namely, LOPAC (Sigma-Aldrich, 1280 compounds), Spectrum (MicroSource Discovery Systems, 1969 compounds), and DIVERSet (ChemBridge, 49 971 compounds). These pilot screens identified 899 compounds that inhibited PfGluPho activity by at least 50%. Selected compounds were further studied to determine IC50 values in an orthogonal assay, the type of inhibition and reversibility, and effects on P. falciparum growth. Screening results and follow-up studies for selected PfGluPho inhibitors are presented. Our high-throughput screening assay may provide the basis to identify novel and urgently needed antimalarial drugs.


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