Chapter 5
An Introduction to Medicinal Chemistry · 5 exercises
Problem 2
Small G-proteins like Ras have an autocatalytic property. What does this mean and what consequences would there be (if any) should that property be lost?
2 step solution
Problem 3
. Farnesyl transferase is an enzyme which catalyses the attachment of a long hydrophobic chain to the Ras protein. What do you think the purpose of this chain is and what would be the effect if the enzyme was inhibited?
3 step solution
Problem 6
An enzyme was produced by genetic engineering where several of the serine residues were replaced by glutamate residues. The mutated enzyme was permanently active, whereas the natural enzyme was only active in the presence of a serine-threonine protein kinase. Give an explanation.
3 step solution
Problem 7
Suggest why tyrosine kinases phosphorylate tyrosine residues in protein substrates, but not serine or threonine residues.
4 step solution
Problem 8
Antibodies have been generated to recognize the extracellular regions of growth factor receptors. Binding of the antibody to the receptor should block the growth factor from reaching its binding site and block its signal. However, it has been observed that antibodies can sometimes trigger the same signal as the growth factor. Why should this occur? Consult section 10.7.2 to see the structure of an antibody.
5 step solution