Aravind Kamath

By Aravind Kamath and Kantharaju Kamanna

The cell membranes consist of lipid bilayers that are semipermeable. The semipermeable nature enables the cell membranes to regulate the transport of materials entering and exiting the cell. Apart from providing protection and a fixed environment to the cell, the cell membrane has several functions. The covalently linked proteins to lipids on the surface of the cell membranes are the Lipid-anchored proteins. The function of the protein to which the lipid is attached depends on the type of the lipid. Prenylated proteins, fatty acylated proteins, and glycosylphosphatidylinositol-linked proteins (GPI) are the three main types of lipid-anchored proteins on the cell membrane. In particular, the prenylated proteins are very important for cell growth, differentiation, and morphology. The dynamic interaction of prenylated proteins with the cell membrane is important for their signaling functions and is often deregulated in disease processes, such as cancer. An understanding of the prenylated proteins and their mechanisms is important for drug development efforts to combat cancer.

Part of the book: Modifications in Biomacromolecules

By Kantharaju Kamanna and Aravind Kamath

Natural products with varied functional attributes are available in large abundance in nature. Nature has been an infinite repository of resources leading to drug development, discovery of novel chemicals, pharmacophores, and several invaluable bioactive agents. Natural products play a critical role in modern drug development, especially for antibacterial and antitumor agents. Their varied chemical structure, composition, solubility, and synthetic pathways bestow upon them a high level of diversity. Prenylation is a covalent addition of hydrophobic moieties to proteins or any other chemical compounds. Generally, the hydrophobic moieties are farnesyl or geranylgeranyl isoprenyl groups. Prenylation of flavonoids, alkaloids, terpernoids, etc., leads to gain of varied functionalities to the natural products in addition to the already existing functions. The ever-increasing need for the discovery of new drugs finds a new avenue through the prenylation of natural products. Cell-free synthesis of the prenylated natural products can be seen as a new alternative for the natural synthesis, which warrants time-consuming isolation and purification techniques.

Part of the book: Modifications in Biomacromolecules