Seminars Archive

The Gestalt of molecular recognition

Abstract
All of biology is governed by interactions between molecules. Each such interaction has characteristic values of affinity (strength) and specificity (preference) between partners. Biology requires many different combinations of affinity and specificity to serve a range of purposes. Affinity is optimized in respect of the physiologically relevant concentration ranges of the partners and the required duration of their interaction. Specificity is optimized in respect of the similarity and abundance of potentially competing partners. What molecular mechanisms are used to achieve the required values of affinity and specificity? Complementary biophysical and biochemical methods, sometimes with novel adaptations, are applied to address this question in specific biological systems. Although the individual approaches are fundamentally reductionistic, a synthesis of the results together with comparative analysis of systems allows to distill out generalities, leading to an understanding of recognition phenomena that integrates structural and thermodynamic viewpoints.