The crystal structure of egg-white lysozyme complexed with N-acetylchitotriose is shown to highlight the recognition of the carbohydrate by the protein. In this complex, a tryptophan residue from the enzyme is interacting with the trisaccharide through CH-p interactions. These and other p-type interactions have been shown to be important intra- and intermolecular forces in determining the structure of proteins and protein-ligand complexes. The article Teaching Noncovalent Interactions in the Biochemistry Curriculum through Molecular Visualization: The Search for p Interactions, by James R. Cox, describes how molecular visualization can be used to teach p-type and other noncovalent interactions in the biochemistry curriculum. The image was provided by James R. Cox.
The cover was designed by Betsy True.
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