2009/11/03

The role of surface tension in protein stability

The group of Oscar Millet from the Structural Biology Unit of CIC bioGUNE has recently published a study on the influence of the surface tension on protein stability. Specifically, the effect of certain cosolutes (inorganic salts) on protein stability has been evaluated using a protein model system. NMR in combination with circular dichroism allowed establishing the link between protein structure and stability. The study, published in the November issue of Biophysical Journal, shows that inorganic salts tend to raise the surface tension of the solvent and that this increase is responsible for the stabilization of the folded (functional) conformation of a protein.