Direct Evidence of Acid-Driven Protein Desolvation

A new research article co-authored by Prof. Panagiotis Kastritis (corresponding author) and Dr. Fotis Kyrilis has been published in one of the most prestigious journals of multidisciplinary science: The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The study, titled “Direct evidence of acid-driven protein desolvation” (Hamdi et al., 2026), addresses a long-standing question in biochemistry regarding how water molecules behave around proteins under acidic conditions. Using atomic-level visualization, the researchers observed that increasing acidity leads to the release of hundreds of water molecules, while a structured hydration shell remains partially preserved.

The findings also show that acidity affects metal binding, such as iron, within protein structures. These results provide new insights into protein solvation mechanisms and may support the design of more stable or pH-tolerant proteins for biotechnological applications.