Home · Science · Sep 10 archive
Scientists Visualize Hidden Water Architecture Near Protein Surfaces
Confirmed
In Short: Scientists have used advanced 3D-AFM techniques to visualize the complex hydration structures surrounding peptide assemblies, revealing that water near protein surfaces is not passive but integral to protein function.
Molecular structure and 3D-AFM visualization of self-assembled dodecapeptide hydration shells have provided unprecedented detail on the organization of water adjacent to peptide assemblies. This research, published in [new Asia Research News], highlights the formation of highly ordered hydration structures within the interfacial hydration zone.
The findings, according to ScienceAlert, reveal that water near peptide and protein surfaces is not simply a passive solvent but plays an integral role in protein identity and function. These hydration architectures extend multiple layers from the peptide surface and contain distinct structural signatures associated with various amino acid residues.
The researchers propose that these hydration structures are not merely consequences of the protein's presence but are an integral part of protein identity and function. This work, according to ScienceAlert, covers about 70 percent of Earth's surface and comprises roughly 60 percent of our bodies by mass, yet water remains scientifically anomalous.
The team was able to visualize hydration structures with unprecedented detail using an ordered self-assembled peptide system and high-resolution 3D-AFM. The findings reveal that water near peptide and protein surfaces is not simply a passive solvent but plays an integral role in protein identity and function.
What's confirmed
- Molecular structure and 3D-AFM visualization of self-assembled dodecapeptide hydration shells have provided unprecedented detail on the organization of water adjacent to peptide assemblies. This research, published in [new Asia Research News], highlights the formation of highly ordered hydration structures within the interfacial hydration zone.
- The findings, according to ScienceAlert, reveal that water near peptide and protein surfaces is not simply a passive solvent but plays an integral role in protein identity and function. These hydration architectures extend multiple layers from the peptide surface and contain distinct structural signatures associated with various amino acid residues.
- The researchers propose that these hydration structures are not merely consequences of the protein's presence but are an integral part of protein identity and function. This work, according to ScienceAlert, covers about 70 percent of Earth's surface and comprises roughly 60 percent of our bodies by mass, yet water remains scientifically anomalous.
- The team was able to visualize hydration structures with unprecedented detail using an ordered self-assembled peptide system and high-resolution 3D-AFM. The findings reveal that water near peptide and protein surfaces is not simply a passive solvent but plays an integral role in protein identity and function.
What's still developing
- The inset in panel a presents a 3D-AFM volumetric map showing the molecular-resolution spatial organization of interfacial water surrounding peptide assemblies, including in-plane (xy) and cross-sectional (xz) views.
- This weird form of water is found in stratospheric clouds in polar climes.
- "The neutron signal, detected by our instrument, is dominated by the motions of hydrogen atoms in water," explains Alice Klapproth, an ANSTO instrument scientist for the Emu spectrometer.
- Altogether, the researchers detected a slowing of the confined water's dynamics occurring over a surprisingly large range, from -63 to -20 degrees Celsius; a shift they explored across six temporal orders of magnitude, from millionths to just trillionths of a second.
- Like an aqueous Jekyll and Hyde, water crystallizes at low temperatures, taking the familiar form of ice.
- Or it can become "glassy water", with an amorphous, messy molecular structure.
- It also helps cold-loving (psychrophilic) organisms prevent ice-crystal-induced cellular damage at bone-chilling temperatures.
- Yet water's transformation from liquid to glass has largely remained hidden from observational techniques.