Radium wrote:
> Also, is it possible to thermally-denature a protein w/out causing it
> to coagulate?
Such experiemnts were performed with barnase and ribonuclease. Boil to
denature (loss of enzymatic activity), cool to renaturate.
Denaturation means the opening of tertiary and secondary protein
stucture, coagulation the uncontrolled association of proteins. In
normal proteins hydrophobic parts are burrried inside, hydrophilic parts
are on the surface. Once this structure is lost, hydrophobic sites are
exposed, leading to uncontrolled association by hydrophobic
interactions.
