In biochemistry, a binding site is a region on a protein, DNA, or RNA to which specific other molecules and ions—in this context collectively called ligands, or more specifically, protein ligands—form a chemical bond.

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.

An equilibrium exists between unbound ligands and bound ligands.

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.

A more specific type of binding site is the transcription factor binding site, present on DNA.

[edit] See also

• NTP binding site
• DNA binding site

[edit] References

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[edit] External links

• Drawing the active site of an enzyme

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