Research from across four institutions, in two countries, and involving eight researchers has become the first RSC Open Science paper being published in Molecular BioSystems. 

Authors from the UK and USA collaborated on the work, which involved screening chemical compounds and monitoring changes in tissue during early skeletal development in zebrafish. The research described involved both chemical and biological approaches and is an excellent example of research carried out at the chemistry/biology interface, which is a prime focus of the Molecular BioSystems journal. 

Zebrafish embryos can be monitored relatively easily outside of the uterus and are transparent, so changes can be clearly observed. They serve as models in the study of Menkes disease in humans, a developmental disease associated with copper metabolism. 

In the study, the small chemical compound mercaptopyridine-N-oxide (MCP) was selected from a screen of 1000 compounds investigated for their effects on developing zebrafish embryos. MCP affected the development of the notochord, an important tissue involved in early skeletal development. Results suggested that MCP targets the copper-dependent enzyme lysine oxidase. 

RSC Open Science gives authors the option of paying a fee in exchange for making their accepted communication, research paper or review article openly available to all via the web.