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Polymer principles and protein folding
Author(s) -
Dill Ken A.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
protein science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.353
H-Index - 175
eISSN - 1469-896X
pISSN - 0961-8368
DOI - 10.1110/ps.8.6.1166
Subject(s) - impossibility , energy landscape , protein folding , code (set theory) , folding (dsp implementation) , statistical mechanics , computer science , statistical physics , bridging (networking) , physics , engineering , thermodynamics , computer network , electrical engineering , set (abstract data type) , nuclear magnetic resonance , political science , law , programming language
This paper surveys the emerging role of statistical mechanics and polymer theory in protein folding. In the polymer perspective, the folding code is more a solvation code than a code of local ØΨ propensities. The polymer perspective resolves two classic puzzles: (1) the Blind Watchmaker' Paradox that biological proteins could not have originated from random sequences, and (2) Levinthal' Paradox that the folded state of a protein cannot be found by random search. Both paradoxes are traditionally framed in terms of random unguided searches through vast spaces, and vastness is equated with impossibility. But both processes are partly guided . The searches are more akin to balls rolling down funnels than balls rolling aimlessly on flat surfaces. In both cases, the vastness of the search is largely irrelevant to the search time and success. These ideas are captured by energy and fitness landscapes. Energy landscapes give a language for bridging between microscopics and macroscopics, for relating folding kinetics to equilibrium fluctuations, and for developing new and faster computational search strategies.