6533b85dfe1ef96bd12be879
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Sequence Determines Degree of Knottedness in a Coarse-Grained Protein Model
Peter VirnauThomas WüstDaniel Reithsubject
Protein ConformationFOS: Physical sciencesGeneral Physics and AstronomyCondensed Matter - Soft Condensed Matterstomatognathic systemComputer SimulationMathematicsSequence (medicine)chemistry.chemical_classificationQuantitative Biology::BiomoleculesDegree (graph theory)Proteinsfood and beveragesBiomolecules (q-bio.BM)Knot theoryAmino acidsurgical procedures operativeModels ChemicalQuantitative Biology - BiomoleculeschemistryFOS: Biological sciencesProtein modelSoft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)Biological systemHydrophobic and Hydrophilic InteractionsMonte Carlo Methoddescription
Knots are abundant in globular homopolymers but rare in globular proteins. To shed new light on this long-standing conundrum, we study the influence of sequence on the formation of knots in proteins under native conditions within the framework of the hydrophobic-polar (HP) lattice protein model. By employing large scale Wang-Landau simulations combined with suitable Monte Carlo trial moves we show that, even though knots are still abundant on average, sequence introduces large variability in the degree of self-entanglements. Moreover, we are able to design sequences which are either almost always or almost never knotted. Our findings serve as proof of concept that the introduction of just one additional degree of freedom per monomer (in our case sequence) facilitates evolution towards a protein universe in which knots are rare.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-03-15 | Physical Review Letters |