Chemical approaches to the study of nucleoprotein structures

The main chemical approaches to the study of macromolecular structure and d ynamics and to the elucidation of interbiopolymer contact points are consid ered and illustrated by particular examples. Primary attention is paid to t he: chemical footprinting and affinity modification methods. The use of bif unctional reagents for the study of nucleoprotein structure architecture is described. The ways of enhancing the selectivity of affinity modification available from the literature: are analyzed with an emphasis on catalytical ly competent (superselective) labeling. The identification of proteins resp onsible for replication of the tickborne encephalitis virus by this method is described to demonstrate the possibility of the application of the metho d to multicomponent systems such as the nucleus fraction of infected cells.