A hydrophobic ratchet entrenches molecular complexes

Fascinating. Seems like an excellent example of constructive neutral evolution.

Using structural bioinformatics, we show that a universal mutational propensity drives sites that are buried in multimeric interfaces to accumulate hydrophobic substitutions to levels that are not tolerated in monomers.

Even more fascinating is the idea of an intrinsic mutational bias towards this kind of gratuitous complexity.

7 Likes