Protein Reactivity and Chemical Probes

This lecture explores the functional diversity of proteins through their chemical properties, focusing on post-translational modifications, enzyme catalysis, and protein reactivity. It delves into nucleophilic substitution reactions, catalytic triads, and cysteine-based catalysis. The instructor discusses the formulation of problems in chemical biology, emphasizing cysteine reactivity and the use of chemical probes. The lecture also covers the development and components of chemical probes, including specificity elements and reporter elements. Furthermore, it addresses quantitative chemoproteomics, mass spectrometry approaches, and proteome-wide covalent ligand discovery in biological systems.