Related papers: Decoding How Proteins Fold
The ability to computationally generate novel yet physically foldable protein structures could lead to new biological discoveries and new treatments targeting yet incurable diseases. Despite recent advances in protein structure prediction,…
We argue that protein native state structures reside in a novel "phase" of matter which confers on proteins their many amazing characteristics. This phase arises from the common features of all globular proteins and is characterized by a…
In this paper we study the phenomenon of kinetic partitioning when a polypeptide chain has two ground state conformations one of which is more kinetically reachable than the other. This question is relevant to understand the phenomenology…
Proteins are the "work horses" in biological systems. In almost all functions specific proteins are involved. They control molecular transport processes, stabilize the cell structure, enzymatically catalyze chemical reactions; others act as…
Energy landscape theory describes how a full-length protein can attain its native fold by sampling only a tiny fraction of all possible structures. Although protein folding is now understood to be concomitant with synthesis on the ribosome,…
Protein folding, which dictates the protein structure from its amino acid sequence, is half a century old problem of biology. The function of the protein correlates with its structure, emphasizing the need of understanding protein folding…
In the course of evolution, proteins undergo important changes in their amino acid sequences, while their three-dimensional folded structure and their biological function remain remarkably conserved. Thanks to modern sequencing techniques,…
The dependence of the unfolding pathway of proteins on the pulling speed is investigated. This is done by introducing a simple one-dimensional chain comprising $N$ units, with different characteristic bistable free energies. These units…
Proteins fold to a specific functional conformation with a densely packed hydrophobic core that controls their stability. We develop a geometric, yet all-atom model for proteins that explains the universal core packing fraction of…
Over the years, advances in experimental and computational methods have helped us to understand the role of thermodynamic, kinetic and active (chaperone-aided) effects in coordinating the folding steps required to achieving a knotted native…
Evolutionally conserved quantity that specifies folding nuclei is pursued by a case study for a small protein (PDB code: 1ten). First it is demonstrated that the sequences of amino acids at folding nuclei are not conserved. Then 3D…
A novel approach to protein folding dynamics is presented. We suggest that folding of protein may be mediated via interaction with solitons which propagate along the molecular chain. A simple toy model is presented in which a Sine-Gordon…
Natively unfolded proteins exist as an ensemble of flexible conformations lacking a well defined tertiary structure along a large portion of their polypeptide chain. Despite the absence of a stable configuration, they are involved in…
We adopt the point of view that analysis of the stability of the protein folding process is central to understanding the underlying physics of folding. Stability of the folding process means that many perturbations do not disrupt the…
We use a free energy functional theory to elucidate general properties of heterogeneously ordering, fast folding proteins, and we test our conclusions with lattice simulations. We find that both structural and energetic heterogeneity can…
Cotranslational folding depends on the folding speed and stability of the nascent protein. It remains difficult, however, to predict which proteins cotranslationally fold. Here, we simulate evolution of model proteins to investigate how…
Proteins are a matter of dual nature. As a physical object, a protein molecule is a folded chain of amino acids with multifarious biochemistry. But it is also an instantiation along an evolutionary trajectory determined by the function…
We review the recent progress in computational approaches to protein design which builds on advances in statistical-mechanical protein folding theory. In particular, we evaluate the degeneracy of the protein code (i.e. how many sequences…
Using the Helmholtz decomposition of the vector field of folding fluxes in a two-dimensional space of collective variables, a potential of the driving force for protein folding is introduced. The potential has two components. One component…
The process of protein folding from an unfolded state to a biologically active, folded conformation is governed by many parameters e.g the sequence of amino acids, intermolecular interactions, the solvent, temperature and chaperon…