Question

Which of the following is untrue about Electrostatic Complementarity?

(a) The electrostatic properties of biomolecules play an important role in determining interactions

(b) The burial of charged residues at protein-protein/DNA interfaces is thought to be generally net destabilizing with the hydrophobic effect being the primary driving force

(c) Charged groups involved in the biomolecular interface are often stabilized by other polar or oppositely charged groups on the interacting molecule

(d) Charged groups involved in the biomolecular interface are often stabilized by similar polar or same charged groups on the interacting molecule

I got this question in an international level competition.

This interesting question is from Molecular Complementarity in section Predicting the Structure of Protein – Biomolecular Interactions of Bioinformatics

Answer 1

Right answer is (d) Charged groups involved in the biomolecular interface are often stabilized by similar polar or same charged groups on the interacting molecule

The explanation: Therefore charge complementarity can play an important role in determining the specificity of the interaction. In many cases in biology a protein must recognize a highly charged molecule such as poly-anions like DNA or RNA. In order to make a close approach the protein must have charged residues that complement the negative charges present on the phosphate backbone. Electrostatic complementarity is also important in many protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions.