The protein folding problem: when will it be solved?
2007; Elsevier BV; Volume: 17; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/j.sbi.2007.06.001
ISSN1879-033X
AutoresKen A. Dill, S. Banu Ozkan, Thomas R. Weikl, John D. Chodera, Vincent A. Voelz,
Tópico(s)RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
ResumoThe protein folding problem can be viewed as three different problems: defining the thermodynamic folding code; devising a good computational structure prediction algorithm; and answering Levinthal's question regarding the kinetic mechanism of how proteins can fold so quickly. Once regarded as a grand challenge, protein folding has seen much progress in recent years. Folding codes are now being used to successfully design proteins and non-biological foldable polymers; aided by the Critical Assessment of Techniques for Structure Prediction (CASP) competition, protein structure prediction has now become quite good. Even the once-challenging Levinthal puzzle now seems to have an answer — a protein can avoid searching irrelevant conformations and fold quickly by making local independent decisions first, followed by non-local global decisions later.
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