受限水对生物过程的影响研究

Research on confined water and biological water is a frontier in physics and interfacial sciences. However, there is little direct evidence that the confined water around biomolecules is decisive for the molecules' functions, leading to a long-time argument on the biological functions of the confined water. In this project, we propose to employ the confined waters on various solid substrates or at the interfaces between two-dimensional nanomaterials and solid substrates as model systems to mimic the biological water under cellular environment, so that the effects of the confined water on the biological processes could be investigated without the disturbance of the bulk water. The confined water could be 1 nm or less in thickness, which has similar physiochemical properties to that of the biological water in the cells. We plan to investigate the self-assembly behaviors of the proteins and peptides, as well as biochemical reactions of single DNA molecules after introducing the biomolecules into the confined water. The information obtained in such systems would provide direct evidence revealing the roles of the confined water on the biological processes.

受限水及生物水的研究是重要的前沿科学领域。学术界对于受限水的生物学功能存在争论，主要是缺乏直接的实验证据来表明生物分子周围的受限水是发挥其生物学功能的决定性因素。本项目拟构建固体表面上和界面间的纳米尺度厚的受限水体系来模拟细胞中的生物水环境，研究受限水对生物过程的影响。这种受限水与存在于细胞内部、依附于生物分子或生物膜表面的生物水相似，厚度可以控制在1nm以下，因此排除了宏观水对生物过程的影响。我们将蛋白、多肽、DNA分子及DNA酶在没有宏观水的影响下引入到受限水体系中，研究蛋白和多肽分子在受限水中的扩散、自组装和结晶行为，探索受限水体系中单分子DNA生化反应的特点，所得到的受限水与生物分子相互作用的崭新信息也将直接反映出受限水的生物功能，能够帮助解释生物水如何对生物分子的结构和功能产生影响，具有重要的学术价值。

本项目构建了存在于界面间的纳米尺度厚的受限水体系，并将DNA、多肽等生物分子导入其中，研究受限水对生物过程的影响。在本项目中，我们阐明了受限纳米水层中多肽分子的自组装规律及基底在多肽自组装过程的辅助模板作用；实现了石墨烯和云母之间纳米水层中的DNA单分子操纵，发现受限纳米水层中的单分子DNA有别于开放体系的理化稳定性；阐明了气液界面在纳米尺度影响多肽和蛋白积聚的机制。这些研究结果帮助我们理解生物水如何对生物分子的结构和功能产生影响，具有重要的学术价值。