Chapter 30 - Protein Crystallography and Drug Discovery

Abstract

The impact of structural biology on the daily work of medicinal chemists has been particularly strong. Structural information not only clarifies structure–activity relationships, reveals binding modes and bioactive conformations, and unveils new binding pockets or allosteric binding sites; it also opens new and diverse drug discovery avenues, such as in silico screening, the rational design of focused chemical libraries, and the de novo design of new ligand scaffolds. X-ray crystallography has played a major role in the structural biology revolution, as the most powerful technique to decipher the 3D architecture of biological macromolecules at atomic or near atomic resolution. Biological crystallography can be applied to any macromolecular targets or assemblies, irrespective of their size and complexity, provided that crystals of sufficient quality can be produced. This chapter describes how crystallographic data can contribute today to the different phases of pharmaceutical research. It emphasizes the strengths but also the technical limitations of protein crystallography, so that any medicinal chemist engaging in a new research program and having access to a structural biology group can gauge if, and how, his project could potentially benefit from this technology. A brief outline of the basic principles and methods of protein crystallography is provided. Medicinal chemists, in particular those working in the industry, have access to large, public as well as proprietary, depositories of refined crystal structures. This study would contribute to a more effective communication between chemists and their fellow crystallographers.