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Role of water in the formation of macromolecular structures
This review shows that water in biological systems is not just a passive liquid solvent but also a partner in the formation of the structure of proteins, nucleic acids and their complexes, thereby contributing to the stability and flexibility required for their proper function. Reciprocally, biologi...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
2016
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5346440/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27457765 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00249-016-1161-y |
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author | Privalov, Peter L. Crane-Robinson, Colyn |
author_facet | Privalov, Peter L. Crane-Robinson, Colyn |
author_sort | Privalov, Peter L. |
collection | PubMed |
description | This review shows that water in biological systems is not just a passive liquid solvent but also a partner in the formation of the structure of proteins, nucleic acids and their complexes, thereby contributing to the stability and flexibility required for their proper function. Reciprocally, biological macromolecules affect the state of the water contacting them, so that it is only partly in the normal liquid state, being somewhat ordered when bound to macromolecules. While the compaction of globular proteins results from the reluctance of their hydrophobic groups to interact with water, the collagen superhelix is maintained by water forming a hydroxyproline-controlled frame around this coiled-coil macromolecule. As for DNA, its stability and rigidity are linked to water fixed by AT pairs in the minor groove: this leads to the enthalpic contribution of AT pairs exceeding that of GC pairs, but this is overbalanced by their greater entropy contribution, with the result that AT pairs melt at lower temperatures than GCs. Loss of this water drives transcription factor binding to the minor groove. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-5346440 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2016 |
publisher | Springer Berlin Heidelberg |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-53464402017-03-24 Role of water in the formation of macromolecular structures Privalov, Peter L. Crane-Robinson, Colyn Eur Biophys J Review This review shows that water in biological systems is not just a passive liquid solvent but also a partner in the formation of the structure of proteins, nucleic acids and their complexes, thereby contributing to the stability and flexibility required for their proper function. Reciprocally, biological macromolecules affect the state of the water contacting them, so that it is only partly in the normal liquid state, being somewhat ordered when bound to macromolecules. While the compaction of globular proteins results from the reluctance of their hydrophobic groups to interact with water, the collagen superhelix is maintained by water forming a hydroxyproline-controlled frame around this coiled-coil macromolecule. As for DNA, its stability and rigidity are linked to water fixed by AT pairs in the minor groove: this leads to the enthalpic contribution of AT pairs exceeding that of GC pairs, but this is overbalanced by their greater entropy contribution, with the result that AT pairs melt at lower temperatures than GCs. Loss of this water drives transcription factor binding to the minor groove. Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2016-07-25 2017 /pmc/articles/PMC5346440/ /pubmed/27457765 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00249-016-1161-y Text en © The Author(s) 2016 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. |
spellingShingle | Review Privalov, Peter L. Crane-Robinson, Colyn Role of water in the formation of macromolecular structures |
title | Role of water in the formation of macromolecular structures |
title_full | Role of water in the formation of macromolecular structures |
title_fullStr | Role of water in the formation of macromolecular structures |
title_full_unstemmed | Role of water in the formation of macromolecular structures |
title_short | Role of water in the formation of macromolecular structures |
title_sort | role of water in the formation of macromolecular structures |
topic | Review |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5346440/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27457765 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00249-016-1161-y |
work_keys_str_mv | AT privalovpeterl roleofwaterintheformationofmacromolecularstructures AT cranerobinsoncolyn roleofwaterintheformationofmacromolecularstructures |