Cosolvent effects on a protein structure and triangular relationship between protein, water, and cosolvent. (IMAGE)
Caption
Researchers in Japan used computational simulations to show how urea and alcohol induce protein denaturation. Urea interacts with a protein’s main chains and induces coiling, while alcohol interacts with its side chains and induces helix formation. (A) The native or denatured structure of proteins is marginally stabilized. Here, the native structure has slightly more weight (i.e., more stability) than the denatured structure, depicted by the illustration of a seesaw. The structure that is stabilized depends on the type of cosolvent, but its prediction is non-trivial. (B) Image depicting how to solve the triangular relationship between protein, water, and cosolvent in the case of alcohol.
Credit
Dr. Tomonari Sumi from Okayama University, Japan
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