SOLVATION AND SOLUBILITY OF GLOBULAR-PROTEINS

The solvation Gibbs energy of proteins is expressed in terms of its va rious ingredients (refs. 1,2). Estimation of the magnitude of these in gredients can lead to an estimate of the overall solvation Gibbs energ y of the protein. As expected, the hydrophilic groups exposed to the s olvent are mainly responsible for the solubility of the protein. Howev er, we also found, unexpectedly, that correlation between hydrophilic groups on the surface of the protein can have a decisive contribution to the solvation Gibbs energy, and hence to the solubility of the prot ein.