What Structural Biology Tells Us About the Mode of Action and Detection of Toxicants

The study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms is an old and intense field of research. However, toxicological and environmental health sciences have long been dominated by descriptive approaches that enable associations or correlations but relatively few robust causal l...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annual review of pharmacology and toxicology 2024-08
Main Authors: le Maire, Albane, Bourguet, William
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology
Life Sciences
Structural Biology
Toxicology
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms is an old and intense field of research. However, toxicological and environmental health sciences have long been dominated by descriptive approaches that enable associations or correlations but relatively few robust causal links and molecular mechanisms. Recent achievements have shown that structural biology approaches can bring this added value to the field. By providing atomic-level information, structural biology is a powerful tool to decipher the mechanisms by which toxicants bind to and alter the normal function of essential cell components, causing adverse effects. Here, using endocrine-disrupting chemicals as illustrative examples, we describe recent advances in the structure-based understanding of their modes of action and how this knowledge can be exploited to develop computational tools aimed at predicting properties of large collections of compounds.
ISSN:0362-1642
1545-4304
1545-4304
0362-1642
DOI:10.1146/annurev-pharmtox-061724-080642