Abstract
Under external stress, many organisms accumulate sugars to protect cells and biopolymers. Sugar solutions
are well known to suppress protein denaturation and aggregation. The preferential hydration of protein in
sugar solution has been considered to be a major driving force toward the stabilization of protein structure.
These discussions have been based on the studies using densitometry, calorimetry, spectroscopy, etc. There
are few studies utilizing neutron or X-ray scattering methods, that are applicable to observe the protein
hydration-shell. We have obtained the structural evidence of the effect of sugars on the protein
hydration-shell by using small-angle neutron scattering and synchrotron-radiation small-angle X-ray
scattering.
