Proteins in Amorphous Saccharides: Structural and Dynamical Insights on Bioprotection

2011

We report on experimental and simulative insights on saccharide-based bioprotection, obtained through the study of proteins embedded in amorphous saccharide matrices. The data presented come from a complementary set of techniques (FTIR, MD simulations and SAXS), which provides a description of the bioprotection mechanism from the atomistic to the macroscopic level. The results concur to draw a picture in which bioprotection by saccharides can be explained in terms of a tight anchorage of the protein surface to a stiff matrix, via extended hydrogen-bond networks, whose properties are defined by all its components, and are strongly dependent on the water content. In particular, they show how …