Related papers: Mechanisms underlying sequence-independent beta-sh…
Exploring the protein-folding problem has been a long-standing challenge in molecular biology. Protein folding is highly dependent on folding of secondary structures as the way to pave a native folding pathway. Here, we demonstrate that a…
Protein amyloidosis is a cytopathological process characterized by the formation of highly beta-sheet-rich fibrils. How this process occurs and how to prevent/treat the associated diseases are not completely understood. Here, we carry out a…
We study the folding thermodynamics of a beta-hairpin and two three-stranded beta-sheet peptides using a simplified sequence-based all-atom model, in which folding is driven mainly by backbone hydrogen bonding and effective hydrophobic…
The thermodynamic properties for three different types of off-lattice four-strand beta-sheet protein models interacting via a hybrid Go-type potential have been investigated. Discontinuous molecular dynamic simulations have been performed…
A general theoretical framework is developed using free energy functional methods to understand the effects of heterogeneity in the folding of a well-designed protein. Native energetic heterogeneity arising from non-uniformity in native…
The native state structures of globular proteins are stable and well-packed indicating that self-interactions are favored over protein-solvent interactions under folding conditions. We use this as a guiding principle to derive the geometry…
The stability of a $\beta$-sheeted conformation and its transition into a random coil are studied with a 2D lattice biopolymer model. At low temperature and low external force, the polymer folds back and forth on itself and forms a…
Protein folds are built primarily from the packing together of two types of structures: alpha-helices and beta-sheets. Neither structure is rigid, and the flexibility of helices and sheets is often important in determining the final fold…
Protein sequences serve as a natural record of the evolutionary constraints that shape their functional structures. We show that it is possible to use only sequence information to go beyond predicting native structures and global stability…
The interplay between structure-search of the native structure and desolvation in protein folding has been explored using a minimalist model. These results support a folding mechanism where most of the structural formation of the protein is…
The intrinsic property of proteins to form structural motifs such as alpha-helices and beta-sheets leads to a complex phase behavior in which proteins can assemble into various types of aggregates including crystals, liquidlike phases of…
Protein function depends on both protein structure and amino acid (aa) sequence. Here we show that modular features of both structure and function can be quantified from the aa sequences alone for the small (40,42 aa) plaque-forming amyloid…
In structure-based models of proteins, one often assumes that folding is accomplished when all contacts are established. This assumption may frequently lead to a conceptual problem that folding takes place in a temperature region of very…
A reduced model, which can fold both helix and sheet structures, is proposed to study the problem of protein folding. The goal of this model is to find an unbiased effective potential that has included the effects of water and at the same…
The theory of transition between $\alpha$-helix, $\beta$-sheet and random coil conformation of a protein is discussed through a simple model, that includes both short and long-range interactions. Besides the bonding parameter and helical…
Hydrophobicity is thought to be one of the primary forces driving the folding of proteins. On average, hydrophobic residues occur preferentially in the core, whereas polar residues tends to occur at the surface of a folded protein. By…
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…
Understanding the mechanism of protein secondary structure formation is an essential part of protein-folding puzzle. Here we describe a simple model for the formation of the $\beta$-hairpin, motivated by the fact that folding of a…
Protein folding cooperativity is defined by the nature of the finite-size thermodynamic transition exhibited upon folding: two-state transitions show a free energy barrier between the folded and unfolded ensembles, while downhill folding is…
We present a statistical mechanics approach to the protein folding problem. We first review some of the basic properties of proteins, and introduce some physical models to describe their thermodynamics. These models rely on a random…