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ABSTRACT 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

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Article 21 July 2020 CHARTING UNKNOWN METABOLIC REACTIONS BY MASS SPECTROMETRY-RESOLVED STABLE-ISOTOPE TRACING METABOLOMICS Article Open access 31 May 2025 EXPANDING CHEMISTRY THROUGH IN

VITRO AND IN VIVO BIOCATALYSIS Article 03 July 2024 CHANGE HISTORY * _ 19 DECEMBER 2013 In the version of this Review Article initially published, a double bond was missing from the chemical

structure of the cyclooctene on the left side of the reaction arrow in Figure 1e. The chemical structure has been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article. _ REFERENCES *

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank K. Rangan and N. Westcott for helpful comments on the manuscript. H.C.H. acknowledges support from Ellison Medical Foundation and US National Institutes of

Health–National Institute of General Medical Sciences (1R01GM087544). AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Microbial Pathogenesis, The Rockefeller

University, New York, New York, USA Markus Grammel & Howard C Hang Authors * Markus Grammel View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Howard

C Hang View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS M.G. and H.C.H. wrote this review. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Howard C

Hang. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing financial interests. RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE

Grammel, M., Hang, H. Chemical reporters for biological discovery. _Nat Chem Biol_ 9, 475–484 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.1296 Download citation * Received: 30 July 2012 *

Accepted: 18 June 2013 * Published: 18 July 2013 * Issue Date: August 2013 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.1296 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be

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