Ion Complexation Explains Orders of Magnitude Changes in the Equilibrium Constant of Biochemical Reactions in Buffers Crowded by Nonionic Compounds

Abstract

The equilibrium constant (K) of biochemical complex formation in aqueous buffers with high concentration (>20 wt %) of nonionic compounds can vary by orders of magnitude in comparison with the K in a pure buffer. The precise molecular mechanisms of these profound changes are not known. Herein, we show up to a 1000-fold decrease of the K value of DNA hybridization (at nM concentration) in standard molecular crowder systems such as PEG, dextrans, Ficoll, and glycerol. The effect responsible for the decrease of K is the complexation of positively charged ions from a buffer by nonionic polymers/small molecules. We determined the average equilibrium constant for the complexation of ions per monomer (∼0.49 M–1). We retrieve K’s original value for a pure buffer if we properly increase the ionic strength of the buffer crowded by the polymers, compensating for the loss of complexed ions.