How Proteins Fold Into Their Critical Shapes

[moleculardude]

How Proteins Fold Into Their Critical Shapes

Evidence is provided by several Cornell researchers and the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California.

This confirms the theory of how and where proteins fold to generate their characteristic shapes and biological functions.

The Protein Folding Theory

The protein folding theory postulates that proteins begin to fold in specific places along an amino acid chain that contains nonpolar groups, or groups of uncharged molecules. This continues folding by aggregation, as many of these nonpolar groupings combine.


This illustration shows a designed protein transformed from an unfolded into a folded form. (Credit: Adam Liwo / Courtesy of Cornell University)