So in that case, how critical is the positioning of the ligand and the receptor?
Going back to the lock and key analogy, sure, my key opens the lock, but only if it's inserted into the keyhole at a specific angle and orientation. I can't insert it backwards, or sideways, or even twisted a few degrees off axis and expect it to work.
If my key is subject to Brownian motion, even if there were m/b/tr-illions of them bouncing around outside the lock, I wouldn't expect one to fit within a given time frame.
jfincher42 t1_jbv4ifp wrote
Reply to comment by NeverPlayF6 in What exactly is going on when a protein (or other molecule) binds with a receptor? by Eat-A-Torus
So in that case, how critical is the positioning of the ligand and the receptor?
Going back to the lock and key analogy, sure, my key opens the lock, but only if it's inserted into the keyhole at a specific angle and orientation. I can't insert it backwards, or sideways, or even twisted a few degrees off axis and expect it to work.
If my key is subject to Brownian motion, even if there were m/b/tr-illions of them bouncing around outside the lock, I wouldn't expect one to fit within a given time frame.