amino acid modification

Unnatural amino acids (UAAs), also referred to as non-canonical amino acids (ncAAs) or non-proteinogenic amino acids, are a class of amino acids that are distinct from the 20 standard natural amino acids. They can be obtained through chemical synthesis, biosynthesis, and other approaches, with structural diversity far exceeding that of natural amino acids. UAAs are mainly including naturally occurring non-canonical amino acids, chemically synthesized amino acids, and biosynthetic amino acids, which provide a molecular basis for protein function design.

UAAs exhibit significant value in multiple fields. They can optimize the pharmacokinetic properties of peptide drugs and peptidomimetics, modify enzyme functions and endow them with new biological activities, thereby overcoming the limitations of traditional peptide drugs and expanding the chemical space . Meanwhile, UAAs can serve as molecular probes to analyze protein-protein interactions and investigate the regulatory mechanisms of protein functions.

MCE has compiled a UAAs Fragment Library comprising nearly a thousand unnatural amino acid fragments with extensive coverage of chemical space and enhanced structural diversity. This compound library can be widely applied in peptide synthesis, drug design, and protein engineering.

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) refer to chemical modifications that occur on amino acid residues of proteins after translation, involving the addition or removal of specific functional groups. These modifications regulate protein activity, localization, folding, and interactions with other biomolecules. By influencing protein function, PTMs play a crucial role in various pathophysiological processes. Common types of PTMs include protein phosphorylation, methylation, acetylation, ubiquitination, glycosylation, and more.

MCE offers 3,704 PTM-targeting compounds, which can be used for drug screening in cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, metabolic disorders, etc.

A histone modification, a covalent post-translational modification (PTM) to histone proteins, includes methylation, phosphorylation, acetylation, ubiquitylation, and sumoylation, etc. In general, histone modifications are catalyzed by specific enzymes that act predominantly at the histone N-terminal tails involving amino acids such as lysine or arginine, as well as serine, threonine, tyrosine, etc. The PTMs made to histones can impact gene expression by altering chromatin structure or recruiting histone modifiers. Histone modifications act in diverse biological processes such as transcriptional activation/inactivation, chromosome packaging, and DNA damage/repair. Deregulation of histone modification contributes to many diseases, including cancer and autoimmune diseases.

MCE owns a unique collection of 919 bioactive compounds targeting Epigenetic Reader Domain, HDAC, Histone Acetyltransferase, Histone Demethylase, Histone Methyltransferase, Sirtuin, etc. Histone Modification Research Compound Library is a useful tool for histone modification research and drug screening.

Dipeptide compounds have attracted extensive attention in drug discovery and life science research due to their simple structures, ease of modification, and favorable biocompatibility. As small peptides composed of two amino acids, dipeptides exhibit diverse biological activities, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticancer, and immunomodulatory effects, showing significant application potential in metabolic disorders, neurological diseases, and cancer research. Compared with traditional small molecules, dipeptide compounds possess favorable target-binding properties and high structural plasticity, making them valuable tools for drug screening and mechanism studies.

The MCE Dipeptide Compound Library contains 80 dipeptide compounds and can be applied to peptide drug discovery and development.

Covalent inhibitors are small molecules that can bind specifically to target proteins through covalent bonds and inhibit their biological functions. Although for a long time, covalent targeting has been playing a subordinate role in drug discovery, with an increasing number of reports on successful clinical applications of such drugs, the potential of these agents is now being acknowledged.

Covalent ligands rely on reactive groups (“warheads”), and new warheads are key to expanding the scope of covalent modalities. Through careful selection, we constructed a structural filter containing over 110 electrophilic groups. By analyzing the electrophilic fragments selected by the structural filter, we removed any molecules with trivial or undesirable structural features. Ultimately, we obtained 8,900 fragment molecules with covalent modification potential, which can target various reactive amino acid residues and can be used for fragment-based covalent drug discovery.

Peptides, composed of amino acids, serve as crucial building blocks for proteins and have gained significant attention in drug development over the past decade. The advancements in production, modification, and analytical technologies have led to a surge in the potential applications of peptides in medicine. Peptides offer a number of advantages over small molecule drugs, including: greater target specificity and efficacy, more predictable metabolic profiles, easier delivery to where they are needed in the body, and fewer side effects. Peptides are increasingly appearing in all branches of medicine as components of innovative drugs, imaging agents, diagnostic agents, and other complex drugs such as peptide-drug conjugates. To date, more than 80 peptide drugs have been approved to treat a variety of diseases, including microbial infections, obesity, anti-diabetes, and cancer, as well as to develop cell targeting platforms and improve cell penetration properties.

MCE designs a unique collection of 832 peptide compounds. HY-L105S is a peptide compound library that can be provided with solution form based on HY-L105, and can be applied to peptides-based drug development.

MCE Amino magnetic beads (200 nm，10 mg/mL) can easily and efficiently combine with a variety of biological ligand in high loads, such as proteins, peptides, oligonucleotides, drug molecules, etc. It can be used as a good basic material for subsequent processing, adsorption, chemical modification and other follow-up processing.

Minimum Essential Medium (MEM), also known as Minimal Essential Medium, was developed by Harry Eagle based on Eagle’s Basal Medium (BME). It is a basic cell culture medium with a simple formulation and broad applicability, and is one of the most commonly used media in animal cell culture. MEM contains only 12 essential amino acids, L-glutamine, and 8 vitamins. It is primarily used for the culture of adherent cells. With appropriate formulation modifications, it can also be used for other types of cell culture.