The waters of life

Water serves as a critical solvent for a remarkable array of molecules; in particular it profoundly influences the structure and activity of proteins, and their molecular interactions. Our ability to understand biological processes and to develop innovative applications for biotechnology depend in large part on understanding the biophysics of proteins in their solvated environment. The main difficulty in understanding solvation phenomena arises from the effects of electrostatics in complex biomolecular systems. In this paper we survey and critique the fundamental concepts and methodologies in evaluating electrostatic contributions to solvation.