Chemical Genetics: Difference between revisions

The chemical genetic approach uses techniques that have been widely applied in drug discovery for a long time and adapts them to the study of biological problems. The earliest drugs, which have been used empirically for centuries, were mostly natural compounds that were discovered by chance. In most cases, humans or animals ingested, drank or were accidentally exposed to herbal or fungal substances and a useful effect was observed. Retrospectively, one could see this trial and error approach as an unbiased phenotype-based screen. The first progress toward a systematic approach to drug development was done in the late eighteenth century, when active agents were routinely purified from plant extracts (like opium from the opium poppy or digitalis, a drug used for heart failure, from the foxglove plant). At that time, the concept that the effect of plant extracts is mediated by their single constituents was shaped. In 1827, Emanuel Merck introduced morphine, a naturally occurring alkaloid, as the first commercially available pure drug in large-scale production. This was the starting point for the rise of pharmaceutical companies during the 20th century. By chemical synthesis, they accumulated giant “libraries” of compounds that were screened in different assays for their effectivity as drugs. This strategy for drug development dominated the 20th century and is what we know today as traditional medicinal chemistry. <ref>[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2639840/  Chemical genetics: reshaping biology through chemistry]</ref>