Global and local metric geometry of ligand binding thermodynamics.

An abstract metric representation of ligand binding thermodynamics reveals the basic connections between the classical thermodynamic theory of binding and linkage [Wyman, J. (1964) Adv. Protein Chem. 19, 223-286] and its site-specific formulation [Di Cera, E. (1990) Biophys. Chem. 37, 147-164]. These two approaches are limit cases of a general metric formulation of binding and linkage that also includes a number of intermediate "mixed" representations.