Water: its importance to life

Abstract

Abstract Textbooks increasingly include material concerning the importance of water but this topic is often treated over‐simplistically with insufficient attention being given to the central position of water in life processes. In this article, modern views of the fundamental role that water plays in biochemical function and process are summarized. The importance of water in the structures of nucleic acids and proteins is explained. © 2001 IUBMB. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.