Lozano-Elena Fidel, Wendeborn Sebastian
Institute for Chemistry and Bioanalytics, School of Life Sciences, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW), Muttenz, Switzerland.
Nat Rev Chem. 2025 May 12. doi: 10.1038/s41570-025-00717-3.
Protein-protein interactions are one of the pillars of all life processes. Many signalling molecules work by promoting and stabilizing these interactions. These molecular 'glues' bind simultaneously to two proteins inducing their interaction, which would be otherwise less favourable or non-favourable. Importantly, they can be harnessed for a clinical purpose, but, despite advances in medicine, the wealth of natural molecular glues in plants have only rarely been commercially utilized. These molecular glues may be plant-endogenous or plant-exogenous small molecules or peptides, and they may be involved in many different processes, such as growth promotion or stress response, opening new opportunities for crop protection, along with other applications. In this Review, we analyse the underlying structural motives and molecular interactions in detail, classifying the modes of actions based on their nature (small ligands versus peptides) and receptor classes. We discuss both natural metabolites and mimetics of such compounds, highlighting similarities and differences between signalling pathways and comparing them with relevant mechanisms in mammals.
蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用是所有生命过程的支柱之一。许多信号分子通过促进和稳定这些相互作用来发挥作用。这些分子“胶水”同时与两种蛋白质结合，诱导它们相互作用，否则这种相互作用可能不太有利或根本不利。重要的是，它们可用于临床目的，但是，尽管医学取得了进展，植物中丰富的天然分子胶水很少被商业利用。这些分子胶水可能是植物内源性或植物外源性的小分子或肽，它们可能参与许多不同的过程，如促进生长或应激反应，为作物保护以及其他应用开辟了新机会。在本综述中，我们详细分析了潜在的结构动机和分子相互作用，根据其性质（小配体与肽）和受体类别对作用模式进行分类。我们讨论了此类化合物的天然代谢物和模拟物，强调了信号通路之间的异同，并将它们与哺乳动物中的相关机制进行了比较。
