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Chemistry

How pH and Ionic Strength Modulate Protein-Ligand Binding Affinities in Solution

Quick fact

Changing the ionic strength from 10 mM to 150 mM can weaken a protein-ligand interaction by over an order of magnitude, simply by screening the electrostatic interactions between charged residues.

Why this is interesting

Have you ever noticed that a biochemical reaction works perfectly in one buffer but fails in another? The same protein and ligand can have wildly different affinities just by changing the pH or salt concentration.