Related papers: Coupled dynamics of sequence selection and compact…
We study the coupled dynamics of primary and secondary structure formation (i.e. slow genetic sequence selection and fast folding) in the context of a solvable microscopic model that includes both short-range steric forces and and…
Protein sequences are believed to have been selected to provide the stability of, and reliable renaturation to, an encoded unique spatial fold. In recently proposed theoretical schemes, this selection is modeled as ``minimal frustration,''…
In this paper we present a method to study the folding structure of a simple model consisting of two kinds of monomers, hydrophobic and hydrophilic. This method has three main steps: an efficient simulation method to bring an open sequence…
We describe a class of growth algorithms for finding low energy states of heteropolymers. These polymers form toy models for proteins, and the hope is that similar methods will ultimately be useful for finding native states of real proteins…
We present a mean-field dynamical theory for single semiflexible polymers which can precisely capture, without fitting parameters, recent fluorescence correlation spectroscopy results on single monomer kinetics of DNA strands in solution.…
We propose and solve a simple model describing secondary structure formation in random hetero-polymers. It describes monomers with a combination of one-dimensional short-range interactions (representing steric forces and hydrogen bonds) and…
An autocatalytic pattern matching polymer system is studied as an abstract model for chemical ecosystem evolution. Highly ordered populations with particular sequence patterns appear spontaneously out of a vast number of possible states.…
In the framework of a lattice-model study of protein folding, we investigate the interplay between designability, thermodynamic stability, and kinetics. To be ``protein-like'', heteropolymers must be thermodynamically stable, stable against…
Emergence and maintenance of polymers with complex sequences is a major question in the study of origins of life. To answer this, we studied a model polymerization reaction, where polymers are synthesized by stepwise ligation from two types…
We present the results of a self-consistent, unified molecular dynamics study of simple model heteropolymers in the continuum with emphasis on folding, sequence design and the determination of the interaction parameters of the effective…
We apply the computational methodology of phase retrieval to the problem of folding heteropolymers. The ground state fold of the polymer is defined by the intersection of two sets in the configuration space of its constituent monomers: a…
In this paper we extend the Gaussian self-consistent method to permit study of the equilibrium and kinetics of conformational transitions for heteropolymers with any given primary sequence. The kinetic equations earlier derived by us are…
The correlations between the sequence of monomers in a polymer and its three-dimensional structure is a grand challenge in polymer science and biology. The properties and functions of macromolecules depend on their 3D shape that has…
We study the conformational properties of heteropolymers containing two types of monomers A and B, modeled as self-avoiding random walks on a regular lattice. Such a model can describe in particular the sequences of hydrophobic and…
We introduce $\infty$-dimensional versions of three common models of random hetero-polymers, in which both the polymer density and the density of the polymer-solvent mixture are finite. These solvable models give valuable insight into the…
We present an analytical theory for heteropolymer deformation, as exemplified experimentally by stretching of single protein molecules. Using a mean-field replica theory, we determine phase diagrams for stress-induced unfolding of typical…
Making use of a simplified model for protein folding, it can be shown that conformations which are particularly stable when their energy is minimized with respect to amino acid sequence (in the sense that they display a large energy gap to…
Many models for the origin of life have focused on understanding how evolution can drive the refinement of a preexisting enzyme, such as the evolution of efficient replicase activity. Here we present a model for what was, arguably, an even…
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…
Motivated by the problem of domain formation in chromosomes, we studied a co--polymer model where only a subset of the monomers feel attractive interactions. These monomers are displaced randomly from a regularly-spaced pattern, thus…