Chemical reporters for biological discovery

Bioorthogonal chemistry, facilitated by enzymatic incorporation of chemical reporters in vitro or in cells, permits selective labeling and visualization of proteins, nucleic acids and other biomolecules such as glycans and lipids and facilitates the interrogation of their cellular functions. Functional tools are needed to understand complex biological systems. Here we review how chemical reporters in conjunction with bioorthogonal labeling methods can be used to image and retrieve nucleic acids, proteins, glycans, lipids and other metabolites in vitro , in cells as well as in whole organisms. By tagging these biomolecules, researchers can now monitor their dynamics in living systems and discover specific substrates of cellular pathways. These advances in chemical biology are thus providing important tools to characterize biological pathways and are poised to facilitate our understanding of human diseases.