WATER ACCESSIBILITY TO TRYPTOPHAN RESIDUES IN HORSE APOMYOGLOBIN

Water molecules are generally considered not to reach the buried hydro phobic center of proteins. A study on tryptophan residues embedded in the A, G, H helices cluster from horse apomyoglobin shows that water m olecules can access these residues. It is suggested that the arrival o f water at the buried residues could result from the protein's specifi c flexibility, which is itself regulated by the solvation state of the protein surface. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.