Water in cell biology
Water is the principal molecular boundary condition for biological evolution and it is involved directly or indirectly in all life processes. Yet, little is known about the variable physical properties of water in vivo. We develop and apply NMR techniques for probing single-water-molecule dynamics and protein immobilization in organelles, cells and tissues. So far we have studied bacterial cells and spores.
Legend: Water 2H MRD profiles (right) from endospores of Bacillus subtilis (left). The blue area under the MRD profile indicates the contribution from internal water molecules in immobilized proteins. The MRD data demonstrate that water in the endospore core (colored red in the TEM image on the left) is nearly as mobile as the cytoplasmic water in the vegetative cell.
E P Sunde, P Setlow, L Hederstedt & B Halle, PNAS 106, 19334–19339 (2009).
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Last updated: 2010-02-23