COLL 2 |
| Allen P Minton, NIDDK, NIDDK, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-0830 |
| Volume exclusion arising from steric repulsion provides an important driving force for macromolecular compaction and association in highly volume-occupied or 'crowded' solutions. The presence of inert bystander macromolecules at concentrations comparable to those found in biological fluid media may increase rate and equilibrium constants for self-association of a dilute reactive species by one or more orders of magnitude relative to values measured in solutions lacking the bystander macromolecules. We review recent theoretical models of excluded volume effects on the rates and equilibria of protein fiber formation, and the results of recent experimental studies of the effect of volume exclusion on the rate of amyloid fiber formation and the rate of formation of tubulin ring arrays. |
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Bio-Colloids
8:30 AM-11:30 AM, Sunday, March 28, 2004 Marriott -- Grand Ballroom J, Oral
Division of Colloid and Surface Chemistry |