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- Title
Keeping dry and crossing membranes.
- Authors
Fernández, Ariel
- Abstract
In this article the author argues that the manipulation of intramolecularly underdehydrated or underwrapped electrostatic interactions in proteins can be exploited in engineering strategies to create molecules with an enhanced ability to traverse biological membranes, with potential implications for oral delivery of peptide-based drugs. According to the author, an intramolecular electrostatic interaction in a soluble protein prevails only if the competing hydration of the polar or charged groups is precluded by the structural design itself. Water tends to attack underprotected intramolecular hydrogen bonds and exposed salt bridges, being particularly "unlforgiving" to interactions exposed to bulk solvent.
- Subjects
ELECTROSTATIC adhesion; BIOLOGICAL membranes; PROTEINS; ENGINEERING design; WATER; HYDROGEN bonding
- Publication
Nature Biotechnology, 2004, Vol 22, Issue 9, p1081
- ISSN
1087-0156
- Publication type
Editorial
- DOI
10.1038/nbt0904-1081