2014-12-02
Observation of ice-like water layers at an aqueous protein surface
Publication
Publication
PNAS , Volume 111 - Issue 50 p. 17732- 17736
We study the properties of water at the surface of an antifreeze protein with femtosecond surface sum frequency generation spectroscopy. We find clear evidence for the presence of ice-like water layers at the ice-binding site of the protein in aqueous solution at temperatures above the freezing point. Decreasing the temperature to the biological working temperature of the protein (0 °C to -2 °C) increases the amount of ice-like water, while a single point mutation in the ice-binding site is observed to completely disrupt the ice-like character and to eliminate antifreeze activity. Our observations indicate that not the protein itself but ordered ice-like water layers are responsible for the recognition and binding to ice.
| Additional Metadata | |
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| PNAS | |
| doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1414188111 | |
| PNAS | |
| Organisation | Ultrafast Spectroscopy |
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Meister, K., Strazdaite, S., DeVries, A., Lotze, S., Olijve, L. L. C., Voets, I., & Bakker, H. (2014). Observation of ice-like water layers at an aqueous protein surface. PNAS, 111(50), 17732–17736. doi:10.1073/pnas.1414188111 |
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