Question

Which of the following is untrue about Shape Complementarity?

(a) The complementarity between two proteins or a protein and ligand can be described by surface contact or overlap

(b) The complementarity between two proteins or a protein and ligand can be described by the overall buried surface area of two molecules in contact

(c) The complementarity between two proteins or a protein and ligand can be described by the number of adjacent surface points (atoms or residues)

(d) The hydrophobic effect barely has impact on protein folding

The question was asked by my college director while I was bunking the class.

My doubt stems from Molecular Complementarity in chapter Predicting the Structure of Protein – Biomolecular Interactions of Bioinformatics

Answer 1

Correct answer is (d) The hydrophobic effect barely has impact on protein folding

Explanation: For example simple atom neighbor counting and the simple surface contact scores are of this type. Whilst these measures are easily calculated they also have some physical basis for being effective scoring functions. The principal driving force for protein folding and binding is the hydrophobic effect, which involves the free energy gain of removing non-polar surface area from water.