2023 Volume 33 Issue 2 Pages 69-75
High pressure interferes protein interactions, which can be utilized for regulation of cellular functions. In Escherichia coli, high hydrostatic pressure was observed to fix the flagellar motor rotation to the counter-clockwise direction using high-pressure microscopy. The reversal of the motor rotation is known to be induced by the binding of the chemotaxis signaling protein CheY to the flagellar motor protein FliM. Using parallel cascade selection molecular dynamics (PaCS-MD), we show that high pressure increases the water density in the hydration shell of CheY and considerably induces water penetration into the CheY-FliM interface.
