Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Biochemical Journal logoLink to Biochemical Journal
. 1987 Dec 1;248(2):615–617. doi: 10.1042/bj2480615

A role for water in cell structure.

J G Watterson 1
PMCID: PMC1148586  PMID: 3435470

Abstract

The question of a role for water in biochemical and cellular events is ignored by most workers (apart from its obvious role in hydrolysis reactions, which is not under discussion here). But much recent research has pointed to the importance of physical, as well as biochemical, processes of the cell, which focus attention on such straightforward elementary questions as position and relationship in space of cell components. In this communication these questions are examined in terms of a new model of water structure. A radically new feature of this model is that water clusters have long-term rather than flickering existence and are as large as the macromolecular components of the cell. These properties allow the clusters and other components to pack together spatially so giving rise to integrated, large-scale, subcellular structures.

Full text

PDF
615

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Arnott S., Fuller W., Hodgson A., Prutton I. Molecular conformations and structure transitions of RNA complementary helices and their possible biological significance. Nature. 1968 Nov 9;220(5167):561–564. doi: 10.1038/220561a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Buxbaum R. E., Dennerll T., Weiss S., Heidemann S. R. F-actin and microtubule suspensions as indeterminate fluids. Science. 1987 Mar 20;235(4795):1511–1514. doi: 10.1126/science.2881354. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Clegg J. S. Intracellular water and the cytomatrix: some methods of study and current views. J Cell Biol. 1984 Jul;99(1 Pt 2):167s–171s. doi: 10.1083/jcb.99.1.167s. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Kabsch W., Mannherz H. G., Suck D. Three-dimensional structure of the complex of actin and DNase I at 4.5 A resolution. EMBO J. 1985 Aug;4(8):2113–2118. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1985.tb03900.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Kornfeld R., Kornfeld S. Assembly of asparagine-linked oligosaccharides. Annu Rev Biochem. 1985;54:631–664. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.54.070185.003215. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. MacLennan D. H., Brandl C. J., Korczak B., Green N. M. Amino-acid sequence of a Ca2+ + Mg2+-dependent ATPase from rabbit muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum, deduced from its complementary DNA sequence. Nature. 1985 Aug 22;316(6030):696–700. doi: 10.1038/316696a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Parsegian V. A., Rau D. C. Water near intracellular surfaces. J Cell Biol. 1984 Jul;99(1 Pt 2):196s–200s. doi: 10.1083/jcb.99.1.196s. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Pollard T. D. Actin-binding protein evolution. 1984 Nov 29-Dec 5Nature. 312(5993):403–403. doi: 10.1038/312403a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Biochemical Journal are provided here courtesy of The Biochemical Society

RESOURCES