ABSTRACT
Neutron diffraction and neutron spectroscopy are particularly powerful
experimental methods for the study of water in biology. They have
contributed important data on the atomic-scale role played by water,
not only in structuring membranes and soluble proteins, but also in
permitting them to have the dynamical features necessary for biological
activity. Neutron diffraction experiments localized the water in a natural
intact membrane (the purple membrane [PM] of Halobacterium salinarum [H. salinarum]) under different conditions of temperature and hydration. They led to a hypothesis linking water, membrane protein dynamics, and activity,
which was subsequently conirmed and reined by neutron spectroscopy.
