ELECTROSTATIC INTERACTIONS IN MACROMOLECULES - THEORY AND APPLICATIONS

In the introductory section of this review, we alluded to the difficulty of applying electrostatic theory to problems in molecular biophysics. As an extreme example of this point, most experiments on biophysical systems are carried out in water, usually at some nonzero ionic strength. However until recently there have been no adequate methods for treating solvent effects on anything but highly simplified models of biological macromolecules. Advances in theoretical and computational methods have changed this situation dramatically. Indeed, as summarized in the applications section of this article, it is now possible to account for a wide range of phenomena that are primarily electrostatic in origin and that depend critically on the details of the three-dimensional structure of a macromolecule and on the properties of the surrounding solvent. Moreover, with the availability of accurate experimental probes of these phenomena as well as detailed structural information, critical testing and refinement of theoretical methods have become possible. We have attempted to summarize the basis for this specific progress and to identify general issues that arise in applications of electrostatic theory to problems associated with the structure and function of proteins and nucleic acids.