Department of Chemistry, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA.
Nat Chem Biol. 2011 Jul 18;7(8):504-11. doi: 10.1038/nchembio.607.
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are a family of molecules that are continuously generated, transformed and consumed in all living organisms as a consequence of aerobic life. The traditional view of these reactive oxygen metabolites is one of oxidative stress and damage that leads to decline of tissue and organ systems in aging and disease. However, emerging data show that ROS produced in certain situations can also contribute to physiology and increased fitness. This Perspective provides a focused discussion on what factors lead ROS molecules to become signal and/or stress agents, highlighting how increasing knowledge of the underlying chemistry of ROS can lead to advances in understanding their disparate contributions to biology. An important facet of this emerging area at the chemistry-biology interface is the development of new tools to study these small molecules and their reactivity in complex biological systems.
活性氧（ROS）是一类分子，它们作为需氧生命的结果，在所有生物体中不断地产生、转化和消耗。这些活性氧代谢物的传统观点是一种氧化应激和损伤，导致组织和器官系统在衰老和疾病中的衰退。然而，新出现的数据表明，在某些情况下产生的 ROS 也可以促进生理学和适应性的提高。本观点提供了一个集中讨论的因素，导致 ROS 分子成为信号和/或应激剂，突出了如何增加对 ROS 潜在化学的了解可以导致对其对生物学的不同贡献的理解的进展。这一新兴领域在化学-生物学界面的一个重要方面是开发新的工具来研究这些小分子及其在复杂生物系统中的反应性。
