Visualizing Different Models for Protein Binding and Interactions
This animation, created by Ariadna Villalbi, includes a series of visualizations that help biology students to understand the difference between the following 'mental models' for how conformation and conformational change drives binding:
Lock-and-key (i.e. the simplest analogy used which just gets students to think about shape complementarity)
'Induced-fit' (i.e. the interaction itself 'pushes' the bindee into a conformation that is more energetically favorable and stable)
Molecular breathing, conformational landscapes and capturing 'permissive' binding conformations