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Molecular Recognition: Lock-and-Key, Induced Fit, and Conformational Selection

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Encyclopedia of Biophysics

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Definition

In the most general sense, molecular recognition is the mechanism by which two or more molecules come together to form a specific complex. These types of molecular interactions are widespread throughout biology and include diverse processes such as enzyme catalysis, antibody–antigen recognition, protein synthesis, receptor–ligand interactions, and transcriptional regulation, to name a few. Because of the universal importance of molecular recognition in biological function, understanding how molecules unambiguously recognize and interact with one another is fundamentally important to appreciating biological systems as a whole.

Introduction

Just as the field biochemistry grew out of the study of biological fermentation, much of the field of molecular recognition grew out of the study of enzyme selectivity (Voet and Voet 2004). Early studies led to the conclusion that substrates combine with enzymes at a specific location on each enzyme’s surface. These conclusions generated...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    Norman Tran & Todd Holyoak

Authors
  1. Norman Tran
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  2. Todd Holyoak
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Todd Holyoak .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University Leicester MRC Centre, Leicester, UK

    Gordon Roberts

  2. Dept Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Anthony Watts

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© 2021 European Biophysical Societies' Association (EBSA)

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Tran, N., Holyoak, T. (2021). Molecular Recognition: Lock-and-Key, Induced Fit, and Conformational Selection. In: Roberts, G., Watts, A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Biophysics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35943-9_468-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35943-9_468-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-35943-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-35943-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

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