Publications by authors named "Nicolas Macro"

The GroE molecular chaperone system is a critical protein machine that assists the folding of substrate proteins in its cavity. Water in the cavity is suspected to play a role in substrate protein folding, but the mechanism is currently unknown. Herein, we report measurements of water dynamics in the equatorial and apical domains of the GroEL cavity in the apo and football states, using site-specific tryptophanyl mutagenesis as an intrinsic optical probe with femtosecond resolution combined with molecular dynamics simulations.

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Water dynamics on the protein surface mediate both protein structure and function. However, many questions remain about the role of the protein hydration layers in protein fluctuations and how the dynamics of these layers relate to specific protein properties. The fish eye lens protein γM7-crystallin (γM7) is found in vivo at extremely high concentrations nearing the packing limit, corresponding to only a few water layers between adjacent proteins.

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