Understanding of stabilization and activation mechanism for biomolecules induced by the addition of cellular metabolite analogs

为了阐明细胞代谢物诱导生物分子稳定和活化的机制，合成了具有细胞代谢物甜菜碱结构特征的类似物。这些甜菜碱衍生物虽然具有两亲性，但在高浓度范围内可作为单体溶于水。此外，当它们溶解于水中时，它们会强烈地改变溶剂的性质，如蒸汽压、介电常数、溶剂密度等。溶剂性质的变化顺序与生物分子的稳定和活化顺序一致。另一方面，这些分子几乎不与生物分子相互作用。目前的研究结果强烈表明，代谢物类似物的加入对生物分子的稳定和活化是由于类似物溶解在水中而改变了溶剂性质。

In order to clarify the mechanism of stabilization and activation for biomolecules induced by cellular metabolites, the analog possessing betaine structure characteristic of cellular metabolites were synthesized. These betaine derivatives dissolved in water as the monomer at high concentration range even though they possess amphiphilic property. Furthermore, when they are dissolved in water, they strongly change the solvent property such as vapor pressure, dielectric constant, solvent density and so on. The order on changing solvent property is in good agreement with that of the stabilization and activation for biomolecules. On the other hand, these molecules scarcely interact with biomolecules. The present results strongly suggested that stabilization and activation for biomolecules induced by the addition of metabolite analogs are ascribed to the change in the solvent property by dissolving the analogs in water.