The ability of trimethylamine N-oxide to resist pressure induced perturbations to water structure

Abstract

Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) protects organisms from the damaging effects of deep-sea high pressure, but it is not well understood how pressure and TMAO in combination perturb the water structure. Here, the authors use neutron scattering coupled with computational modelling of water at 25 bar and 4 kbar in the presence and absence of TMAO to propose an “osmolyte protection ratio” at which pressure and TMAO-induced energy changes effectively cancel out, which translates across scales to the organism level.