Related papers: Long Proteins with Unique Optimal Foldings in the …
We review theoretical approaches, experiments and numerical simulations that have been recently proposed to investigate the folding problem in single-domain proteins. From a theoretical point of view, we emphasize the energy landscape…
In this article the configurational space of two simple protein models consisting of polymers composed of a periodic sequence of four different kinds of monomers is studied as a function of temperature. In the protein models, hydrogen bond…
The determination of the folding mechanisms of proteins is critical to understand the topological change that can propagate Alzheimer and Creutzfeld-Jakobs diseases, among others. The computational community has paid considerable attention…
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…
Among an infinite number of possible folds, nature has chosen only about 1000 distinct folds to form protein structures. Theoretical studies suggest that selected folds are intrinsically more designable than others; these selected folds are…
We consider a lattice model of a semiflexible homopolymer chain in a bad solvent. Beside the temperature $T$, this model is described by (i) a curvature energy $\varepsilon_h$, representing the stiffness of the chain (ii) a…
Proteins form a very important class of polymers. In spite of major advances in the understanding of polymer science, the protein problem has remained largely unsolved. Here, we show that a polymer chain viewed as a tube not only captures…
A transfer-matrix formalism is introduced to evaluate exactly the partition function of the Munoz-Eaton model, relating the folding kinetics of proteins of known structure to their thermodynamics and topology. This technique can be used for…
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…
A typical protein structure is a compact packing of connected alpha-helices and/or beta-strands. We have developed a method for generating the ensemble of compact structures a given set of helices and strands can form. The method is tested…
This paper presents a two-phase protein folding optimization on a three-dimensional AB off-lattice model. The first phase is responsible for forming conformations with a good hydrophobic core or a set of compact hydrophobic amino acid…
Only about 1,000 qualitatively different protein folds are believed to exist in nature. Here, we review theoretical studies which suggest that some folds are intrinsically more designable than others, {\it i.e.} are lowest energy states of…
Using Wang-Landau sampling with suitable Monte Carlo trial moves (pull moves and bond-rebridging moves combined) we have determined the density of states and thermodynamic properties for a short sequence of the HP protein model. For free…
Protein-protein binding enables orderly and lawful biological self-organization, and is therefore considered a miracle of nature. Protein-protein binding is steered by electrostatic forces, hydrogen bonding, van der Waals force, and…
In this Communication we present statistical analysis of conservation profiles in families of homologous sequences for nine proteins whose folding nucleus was determined by protein engineering methods. We show that in all but one protein…
Long chains of the HP lattice protein model are studied by the Multi-Self-Overlap Ensemble(MSOE) Monte Carlo method, which was developed recently by the authors. MSOE successfully finds the lowest energy states reported before for sequences…
In spite of decades of research, much remains to be discovered about folding: the detailed structure of the initial (unfolded) state, vestigial folding instructions remaining only in the unfolded state, the interaction of the molecule with…
A minimal off-lattice model for alpha-helical proteins is presented. It is based on hydrophobicity forces and sequence independent local interactions. The latter are chosen so as to favor the formation of alpha-helical structure. They model…
A four states phase diagram for protein folding as a function of temperature and solvent quality is derived from an improved 2-d lattice model taking into account the temperature dependence of the hydrophobic effect. The phase diagram…
We propose a general method for predicting potentially good folders from a given number of amino acid sequences. Our approach is based on the calculation of the rate of convergence of each amino acid chain towards the native structure using…