Target Directed Drug Synthesis: The Aminoacyl‐tRNA Synthetases as Possible Targets

The “tailor-made” pharmaceutical has been an old dream ever since Paracelsus' days. His saying “Dosis sola facit venenum” is still valid. The ideal pharmacon should inhibit the pathological process or the parasitical organism to a maximum while causing as little harm as possible to the human organism. In order to achieve this goal one must try to make use of metabolic differences between the metabolism of the pathological organism and normal human metabolism in a rational way. With today's improved knowledge of enzymatic processes this seems to be a possible and highly promising approach. The pharmaceutical should act upon a process of central importance, such as the process of protein biosynthesis, where the required highly accurate construction of the macromolecules is achieved by a “proofreading” process. It is shown that this “proofreading” mechanism exhibits specific difference in different species.