Binding site

In biochemistry, a binding site is a region on a protein or piece of DNA or RNA to which ligands (specific molecules and/or ions) may form a chemical bond. An equilibrium exists between unbound ligands and bound ligands.

The term saturation refers to the fraction of total binding sites that are occupied at any given time. When more than one type of ligand can bind to a binding site, competition ensues.

Binding sites also exhibit chemical specificity, a measure of the types of ligands that will bond, and affinity, which is a measure of the strength of the chemical bond.

Binding sites are often an important component of the functional characterization of biomolecules. For example, the characterization of the binding site of a substrate to an enzyme is essential to model the reaction mechanism responsible for the chemical change from substrate to product.

Binding sites on proteins can sometimes recognize other proteins. When a binding site of one protein identifies with another protein's surface, a non-covalent bond is formed between the two polypeptide (peptide) chains and a combined new protein is formed.