Departamento de Física, Universidad Nacional del Sur (DF-UNS), and GRUMASICA, IFISUR (UNS/CONICET), Bahía Blanca, Argentina.
Present address: Instituto de Física Aplicada (INFAP, CONICET-UNSL), Ciudad de San Luis, Argentina.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2019;1215:181-199. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-14741-9_9.
Small icosahedral viruses have a compact capsid that apparently lacks holes through which solvents can be exchanged with the external milieu. However, due to the steric hindrance of amino acids, upon folding, capsid proteins form narrow cavities in which water and ions can be trapped. These occluded solvent molecules can form lines of water, called water wires, representing an arrangement with special features for proton conduction. In this chapter, we review the physico-chemical principles that permit proton conduction through protein cavities. We also describe how a combination of these elements found in an insect viral capsid can allow the virus to sense alkaline environments. Through this analysis, we stress the need to combine experimental and theoretical techniques when modeling complex biological systems.
小型二十面体病毒具有紧凑的衣壳，显然没有可以让溶剂与外部环境交换的孔。然而，由于氨基酸的空间位阻，衣壳蛋白在折叠时会形成狭窄的腔，其中可以捕获水和离子。这些被截留的溶剂分子可以形成水线，称为水线，代表一种具有特殊质子传导排列的结构。在本章中，我们回顾了允许质子通过蛋白质腔传导的物理化学原理。我们还描述了昆虫病毒衣壳中发现的这些元素组合如何使病毒能够感应碱性环境。通过这种分析，我们强调在对复杂生物系统进行建模时需要结合实验和理论技术。
