The Principle of Stationary Action in Biophysics : Stability in Protein Folding
Joint Authors
Weiner, Joel L.
Simmons, Walter
Source
Issue
Vol. 2013, Issue 2013 (31 Dec. 2013), pp.1-7, 7 p.
Publisher
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Publication Date
2013-12-28
Country of Publication
Egypt
No. of Pages
7
Main Subjects
Abstract EN
We conceptualize protein folding as motion in a large dimensional dihedral angle space.
We use Lagrangian mechanics and introduce an unspecified Lagrangian to study the motion.
The fact that we have reliable folding leads us to conjecture the totality of paths forms caustics that can be recognized by the vanishing of the second variation of the action.
There are two types of folding processes: stable against modest perturbations and unstable.
We also conjecture that natural selection has picked out stable folds.
More importantly, the presence of caustics leads naturally to the application of ideas from catastrophe theory and allows us to consider the question of stability for the folding process from that perspective.
Powerful stability theorems from mathematics are then applicable to impose more order on the totality of motions.
This leads to an immediate explanation for both the insensitivity of folding to solution perturbations and the fact that folding occurs using very little free energy.
The theory of folding, based on the above conjectures, can also be used to explain the behavior of energy landscapes, the speed of folding similar to transition state theory, and the fact that random proteins do not fold.
American Psychological Association (APA)
Simmons, Walter& Weiner, Joel L.. 2013. The Principle of Stationary Action in Biophysics : Stability in Protein Folding. Journal of Biophysics،Vol. 2013, no. 2013, pp.1-7.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-491450
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Simmons, Walter& Weiner, Joel L.. The Principle of Stationary Action in Biophysics : Stability in Protein Folding. Journal of Biophysics No. 2013 (2013), pp.1-7.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-491450
American Medical Association (AMA)
Simmons, Walter& Weiner, Joel L.. The Principle of Stationary Action in Biophysics : Stability in Protein Folding. Journal of Biophysics. 2013. Vol. 2013, no. 2013, pp.1-7.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-491450
Data Type
Journal Articles
Language
English
Notes
Includes bibliographical references
Record ID
BIM-491450