Some recent aspects of the use of high-pressure for protein investigations in solution

Abstract

Proteins play a key role in the metabolism of living organisms as, for example, catalysts (enzymes), carriers or receptors of various molecules. These marginally stable biopolymers of amino acids can be perturbed in their activity by pressure, temperature and other environmental variables as organic solvents. Changing environmental conditions can induce metabolism dysfunctions. On isolated systems, i.e. purified proteins, high pressure and other perturbing variables can be used as tools for investigation of protein structure/activity relationships and enzyme mechanisms. The elementary basic physical mechanisms of the action of high pressure upon proteins are stated in the first part of this review. This is followed by a section devoted to technical aspects, including methods for generation of high pressure, and some recent developments, namely stopped-flow spectrometry and electrophoresis under high pressure. Then, the use of pressure as a tool for investigation of enzyme mechanisms and for study of protein equilibria (isomerization, association/dissociation, interaction with other molecules) is exposed. In conclusion, the biotechnological potentialities of high pressures are briefly evoked.