Collective Motion: A New Level of Design Found in Proteins

A "previously unidentified mechanism for modulating protein affinity" has come to light. A team of scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemical Chemistry, publishing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has identified new functional roles for collective motions within protein molecules. These motions, referred to as allostery, allow one end of the protein to affect a distant part through what is termed "allosteric communication."

Intermolecular interactions are...