Singh, L. R.; Poddar, N. K.; Dar, T. A.; Rahman, S.; Kumar, R.; Ahmad, F.
Forty Years of Research on Osmolyte-Induced Protein Folding and Stability
JOURNAL OF THE IRANIAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, 8:1-23, MAR 2011

Most organisms that have adapted to environmental stresses have done so by production and accumulation of certain small organic molecules, known as osmolytes that arose by natural selection and have the ability to stabilize intracellular proteins against the environmental stress. It is well known that osmolytes stabilize proteins and induce folding of aberrant proteins and therefore, it is of therapeutic use for a large number of protein misfolding diseases. Thus, it is very important that the present knowledge of the ability and mechanism of osmolyte-induced protein folding and structural stabilization should reach to researchers working in different avenues. In around 40 years of research, we have gained great advances in various aspects of protein folding and structural stabilization induced by osmolytes. To summarize and discuss the original findings, many short review articles and few long reviews have also been available but almost all have focuses on specific aspects. To get a clear picture of the effect of osmolytes on protein folding and structural stabilization, it is necessary for the benefits of the general readers, to combine and discuss all findings made during its 40 years of life. This review article is therefore, designed to give a collective knowledge on almost all facets of the progresses made on osmolyte-protein interaction to-date.

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