EFFECTS OF INERT GAS PRESSURES ON PROTEIN STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the effects of high pressures on protein structure. When an increased gas pressure is applied to a protein, the concentration of the gas in the protein is increased. Only subtle changes in the molecular configuration are required for observable functional changes, and Xe appears to be binding to specific sites on the protein. High gas pressures alter the function of a protein, the degree, and the nature of the alteration depending on the physical–chemical properties of the gas rather than on pressure per se . Gas binding to a protein is specific. It is not known whether the internal binding sites or the external ones cause the functional changes.