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Biophysics

More than a bystander

Nature volume 478, pages 467–468 (2011)Cite this article

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The tendency of hydrophobic surfaces to aggregate in water is often invoked to explain how biomolecules recognize and bind to each other. Water seems to have a much more active role in these processes than had been thought.

When biomolecules interact, what do the surrounding water molecules do? One might think that their job would simply be to get out of the way, a crowd that must stand aside for the main actors. But there is now good reason to believe that water has a much more active role in the dialogue between the more celebrated constituents of the cell. When a protein binds its ligand, associates with another protein or folds into its functional form, the surrounding solvent acts as a versatile intermediary and facilitator. Three papers1,2,3 uncover the subtlety and sophistication of that role and, in doing so, challenge some common perceptions of how biomolecular recognition operates.

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Figure 1: Water motion in enzyme–substrate binding.

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  1. Philip Ball is a writer based in London.,

    Philip Ball

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Ball, P. More than a bystander. Nature 478, 467–468 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/478467a

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