4 ms·

This theory reminds me a lot of the folding funnel. It used to be thought of as a paradox that a protein could fold in mere minutes if it needed to explore each

by j_m_b 9y ago

This theory reminds me a lot of the folding funnel. It used to be thought of as a paradox that a protein could fold in mere minutes if it needed to explore each possible configuration before arranging into its "correct" configuration. This paradox was solved with the theory of the folding funnel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folding_funnel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folding_funnel) which states that the potential energy surface is not flat, but rather it is 3 dimensional funnel with points where it is practically impossible to go backwards. The nascent protein does not explore the entire potential energy surface, instead it just folds into relatively few transition states before assuming its final form.

vanderZwan 9y ago
The wiki page still calls it a hypothesis, but also doesn't seem to have had substantial updates in a decade (where I define "substantial" as "an expert updated the information" - not a critique of the other types of edition that have happened). Is there any more recent material on this? An animated visualisation, perhaps?
- tstactplsignore 9y ago
  I did my undergrad in biophysics and this is basically a simplified version of the currently accepted view. We now also know that some proteins fold in units, and can have multiple stable fold stopping points along the folding paths, and a good deal of proteins never really have a single stable fold at all. Basically google scholar "protein folding energy landscape" for more details. http://m.pnas.org/content/113/12/3159.short http://m.pnas.org/content/113/12/3159.short Here's a nice visualization: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Manajit_Hayer-Hartl/publication/26262477/figure/fig3/AS:272608570638341@1442006356158/Figure-1-Energy-landscape-scheme-of-protein-folding-and-aggregationThe-purple-surface.png https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Manajit_Hayer-Hartl/pub...

by j_m_b 9y ago

vanderZwan 9y ago

The wiki page still calls it a hypothesis, but also doesn't seem to have had substantial updates in a decade (where I define "substantial" as "an expert updated the information" - not a critique of the other types of edition that have happened). Is there any more recent material on this? An animated visualisation, perhaps?

tstactplsignore 9y ago
I did my undergrad in biophysics and this is basically a simplified version of the currently accepted view. We now also know that some proteins fold in units, and can have multiple stable fold stopping points along the folding paths, and a good deal of proteins never really have a single stable fold at all. Basically google scholar "protein folding energy landscape" for more details. http://m.pnas.org/content/113/12/3159.short http://m.pnas.org/content/113/12/3159.short Here's a nice visualization: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Manajit_Hayer-Hartl/publication/26262477/figure/fig3/AS:272608570638341@1442006356158/Figure-1-Energy-landscape-scheme-of-protein-folding-and-aggregationThe-purple-surface.png https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Manajit_Hayer-Hartl/pub...