Essentials of biorecognition: The (strept)avidin-biotin system as a model for protein-protein and protein-ligand interaction

Molecular recognition or biorecognition is as the heart of all biological interactions. These interactions are characterized by a collection of noncovalent bonds, namely ionic, hydrogen-bonding and hydrophobic interactions. In addition, shape complementarity appears to play a pivotal role in the process of biorecognition. In this review, we examine the versatile avidin-biotin complex as a model system for study of the biorecognition phenomenon with respect to protein-protein, protein-peptide, protein-ligand and protein-DNA interactions. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.