[Application of reporter strains for new antibiotic screening].

Screening for new antibiotics remains an important area of biology and medical science. Indispensable for this type of research is early identification of antibiotic mechanism of action. Preferentially, it should be studied quickly and cost-effectively, on the stage of primary screening. In this review we describe an application of reporter strains for rapid classification of antibiotics by its target, without prior purification of an active compound and determination of chemical structure.

[Common features of antibacterial compounds: an analysis of 104 compounds library].

Antibacterial compounds are one of the essential classes of clinically important drugs. High throughput screening allowed revealing potential antibiotics active towards any molecular target in bacterial cell. We used a library of 9820 organic compounds with highly diversified structures to screen for antibacterial activity. As the result of automated screening, 103 compounds were found to possess antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli. The properties of these compounds were compared with those of initial library. Non-linear Kohonen mapping was used to analyze the differences between non-active molecules from initial library, identified antibacterial hits and compounds with reported antibacterial activity. It was found that identified antibacterial compounds are located in the separated area of chemical space. It can be therefore suggested that these molecules belong to novel classes of antibacterial compounds and could be studied further.

[Posttranscriptional messenger RNA modifications in eukaryotes].

Genomewide mapping of posttranscriptional modification in eukaryotic RNA allowed to reveal tens of thousands modification sites. Among modified nucleotides of eukaryotic RNA 6-methyladenosine, 5-methylcytidine, pseudouridine, inosine, and others. Many modification sites are conserved, many are regulated. Function is known for a small subset of modified nucleotides, while the role of majority of them is still obscure. Global character of mRNA modifications allowed scientists to coin a new term, RNA epigenetics. The review is about posttranscriptional messenger RNA modifications in eukaryotes. Main modifications, their role in cell, their mapping techniques and proteins, that are responsible for such RNA modifications are observed.

Posttranscriptional modification of messenger RNAs in eukaryotes.

Transcriptome-wide mapping of posttranscriptional modifications in eukaryotic RNA revealed tens of thousands of modification sites. Modified nucleotides include 6-methyladenosine, 5-methylcytidine, pseudouridine, inosine, etc. Many modification sites are conserved, and many are regulated. The function is known for a minor subset of modified nucleotides, while the role of their majority is still obscure. In view of the global character of mRNA modification, RNA epigenetics arose as a new field of molecular biology. The review considers posttranscriptional modification of eukaryotic mRNA, focusing on the major modified nucleotides, the role they play in the cell, the methods to detect them, and the enzymes responsible for modification.