Research report 2008 - Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces

Structural changes during protein folding and function

Authors
Weikl, Thomas
Departments

Theorie und Bio-Systeme (Prof. Dr. Reinhard Lipowsky)
MPI für Kolloid- und Grenzflächenforschung, Potsdam

Summary
The sequence of a protein determines, in which three-dimensional structure it folds. The structure in turn enables the biological function of the protein. During function, many proteins slightly change and adapt their three-dimensional structures. These structural changes, as well as the structure formation during folding, cannot be observed directly in experiments. However, combined with theoretical modeling, mutations of a protein provide indirect access to these dynamic processes.

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