SCAN--a high-throughput assay for detecting small molecule binding to RNA targets.

A novel optical-based high-throughput screening technology has been developed for increasing the rate of discovering chemical leads against RNA targets. SCAN ( Screen for Compounds with Affinity for Nucleic Acids) is an affinity-based assay that identifies small molecules that bind and recognize structured RNA elements. This technology provides the opportunity to conduct high-throughput screening of a new class of targets-RNA.

Recognition of planar and nonplanar ligands in the malachite green-RNA aptamer complex.

Ribonucleic acids are an attractive drug target owing to their central role in many pathological processes. Notwithstanding this potential, RNA has only rarely been successfully targeted with novel drugs. The difficulty of targeting RNA is at least in part due to the unusual mode of binding found in most small-molecule-RNA complexes: the ligand binding pocket of the RNA is largely unstructured in the absence of ligand and forms a defined structure only with the ligand acting as scaffold for folding.