Mimicking natural evolution with 'promiscuous reactions' to improve the diversity of drugs

Monday, August 25, 2014 - 01:31 in Biology & Nature

A revolutionary new scientific method will improve the diversity of 'biologically active molecules', such as antibiotics and anti-cancer agents. "Nature produces some amazing structures with really interesting biological activity, but the plant or animal did not design them. Instead the organisms gradually evolved both the chemical structures and the methods to produce them over millennia because they were of benefit. We wanted to capture the essence of this in our approach to discovering new drugs," said the lead author.

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