Mobility of water and of protein atoms at the protein-water interface, monitored by anisotropic atomic displacement parameters, are largely uncorrelated.

Abstract

A non-redundant set of 231 protein crystal structures refined at a resolution better than (or equal to) 1Å was extracted from the Protein Data Bank and the degree of conformational rigidity at the protein-water interface was examined by means of the Hirshfeld test and by comparing the orientations of the anisotropic Us for contacting protein and water atoms. Contacts between protein and water atoms are more rigid that contacts between water atoms and the degree of rigidity increases for shorter contacts and for more hydrogen-bonded atoms. Nevertheless, water and protein atoms are not rigidly held together. On the contrary, they seem to have little influence on their mobility to such an extent that hydration water, different from the protein atoms, cannot be considered to be properly in the solid state.