Methods In Molecular Biophysics: Structure, Dynamics, Function

This page intentionally left blank Methods in Molecular Biophysics Structure, Dynamics, Function Our knowledge of biological macromolecules and their interactions is based on the application of physical methods, ranging from classical thermodynamics to recently developed techniques for the detection and manipulation of single molecules. These methods, which include mass spectrometry, hydrodynamics, microscopy, diffraction and spectroscopy, electron microscopy, molecular dynamics simulations and nuclear magnetic resonance, are complementary; each has its specific advantages and limitations. Organised by method, this textbook provides descriptions and examples of applications for the key physical methods in modern biology. It is an invaluable resource for undergraduate and graduate students of molecular biophysics in science and medical schools, as well as research scientists looking for an introduction to techniques beyond their speciality. As appropriate for this interdisciplinary field, the book includes short asides to explain physics aspects to biologists and biology aspects to physicists. IGOR N. SERDYUK was born in Odessa, Ukraine, and studied physics at Odessa State University. Following research as a postgraduate student at the Department of Polymer Physics, Institute of High Molecular Weight Compounds, Leningrad, he obtained his Ph.D. in 1969. He then studied the physics of proteins as a junior researcher at the Laboratory of Protein Physics, Institute of Protein Research, USSR Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, rising to lead his own research group there and gaining his D.Sc. (Physics and Mathematics) from Moscow State University (1981). Since then he has been head of the Laboratory of Nucleoprotein Physics at the Institute of Protein Research, Pushchino. In 1985 he was awarded the USSR State Prize for Science and Technology and was appointed Full Professor of Molecular Biology in 1993. He has many years of experience teaching molecular biophysics in Moscow University. NATHAN R. ZACCAI was educated in the French school system and attended Edinburgh University, where he gained a B.Sc. (Physics, 1997) and subsequently completed his D.Phil. at the University of Oxford (Biochemistry, 2001). He has undertaken research in immunology, virology and structural biology, specialising in X-ray crystallography. His initial work was on the structural biology of cell surface receptors involved in the immune system. He is currently based in the department of pharmacology, at the University of Bristol, where he is developing a research programme on the molecular basis of ion-receptor activation. ii JOSEPH (GIUSEPPE) ZACCAI was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and educated in English language schools there and in Rome, and at the University of Edinburgh, where he obtained his B.Sc. (1968) and Ph.D. (1972) in Physics. A postdoctoral fellowship at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York, allowed him to pursue new interests in the biophysics of biological membranes and the application of neutron scattering methods in biology. He continued to develop these interests upon returning to Europe, first at the Institut Laue Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, widely recognised as the foremost neutron scattering institute in the world. He holds the position of Directeur de Recherche with the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) of France, and has been head of the Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of the Institut de Biologie Structurale (IBS) in Grenoble since it was founded in 1992. Joe Zaccai’s current research interests include the exploration of the physical chemical limits for life, especially in relation to the role of water and salt, molecular adaptation, protein dynamics, structure and stabilisation in organisms that live under extreme conditions of salinity, temperature, pressure, and exobiology. He has many years of experience teachin