Chemical and structural biology of nucleic acids and protein-nucleic acid complexes for novel drug discovery

Since nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) play very important roles in cells, they are molecular targets of many clinically used drugs, such as anticancer drugs and antibiotics. Because of clinical demands for treating various deadly cancers and drug-resistant strains of pathogens, there are urgent needs to develop novel therapeutic agents. Targeting nucleic acids hasn't been the mainstream of drug discovery in the past, and the lack of 3D structural information for designing and developing drug specificity is one of the main reasons. Fortunately, many important structures of nucleic acids and their protein complexes have been determined over the past decade, which provide novel platforms for future drug design and discovery. In this review, we describe some useful nucleic acid structures, particularly their interactions with the ligands and therapeutic candidates or even drugs. We summarize important information for designing novel potent drugs and for targeting nucleic acids and protein-nucleic acid complexes to treat cancers and overcome the drug-resistant problems.