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Water as a Biomolecule
Author(s) -
Ball Philip
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
chemphyschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.016
H-Index - 140
eISSN - 1439-7641
pISSN - 1439-4235
DOI - 10.1002/cphc.200800515
Subject(s) - biomolecule , macromolecule , chemistry , nanotechnology , structural biology , materials science , biochemistry
Busy busy busy: Water is not a passive solvent in biology, but plays an active role in many biomolecular and cell processes. It can be regarded as a kind of biomolecule in its own right, adapting its structure and dynamics to the biological macromolecules and other cell solutes that it accommodates. In particular, water may hold the key to the way some proteins interact, fold and bind their substrates.