The Effect of the Modification of Protein Structure on the Properties of Proteins Spread and Adsorbed at the Air-Water Interface

Abstract

The results of experimental biology clearly show that living systems contain complex organisations of membranes, organelles, solid-gel, solid-liquid and liquid-gel interfaces. Here proteins play key roles, the complete understanding of which requires a knowledge of their structures and interactions with surrounding substances, and a determination of how these factors govern functional relationships. With problems of this difficulty, it is usual to isolate individual components and try to understand their behaviour in simple, model systems. A classic example of this sort of approach is to be found in the study of the surface chemistry of proteins, where a vast amount of work has been concerned with the behaviour of one protein at an interface. We will examine some of the important conclusions of such work here, and in particular, we propose to analyse the relationship between the native structure of a protein and its interfacial configuration and properties.