Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, United States of America.
PLoS Comput Biol. 2013;9(6):e1003106. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003106. Epub 2013 Jun 27.
Molecular binding is an interaction between molecules that results in a stable association between those molecules. Cooperative binding occurs if the number of binding sites of a macromolecule that are occupied by a specific type of ligand is a nonlinear function of this ligand's concentration. This can be due, for instance, to an affinity for the ligand that depends on the amount of ligand bound. Cooperativity can be positive (supralinear) or negative (infralinear). Cooperative binding is most often observed in proteins, but nucleic acids can also exhibit cooperative binding, for instance of transcription factors. Cooperative binding has been shown to be the mechanism underlying a large range of biochemical and physiological processes.
分子结合是分子之间的相互作用，导致这些分子之间形成稳定的结合。如果一个大分子的结合位点被特定类型的配体占据的数量是配体浓度的非线性函数，那么就会发生协同结合。这可能是由于配体的亲和力取决于配体的结合量。协同性可以是正的（超线性）或负的（亚线性）。协同结合最常发生在蛋白质中，但核酸也可以表现出协同结合，例如转录因子。协同结合已被证明是许多生化和生理过程的基础机制。
