The role of water in cell architecture.

The role of water in biochemical and cellular events is ignored by most workers. However, much recent research has pointed to the importance of physical processes of the cell, which focus attention on such straight forward, elementary questions as position and relationship in space of cell components. In this communication these questions are examined in terms of a new model of water structure. A radically new feature of this model is that water clusters have long-term rather than flickering existence and are as large as the macromolecular components of the cell. These properties allow the clusters and other components to pack together spacially so giving rise to integrated, large-scale, subcellular structures. The intimate participation of water in these structures would explain the fragility of the cytoplasmic organization.