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arXiv · 2405.09646

Protein folding as a jamming transition

Alex T. Grigas·Zhuoyi Liu·Jack A. Logan·Mark D. Shattuck·Corey S. O'Hern
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Abstract

Proteins fold to a specific functional conformation with a densely packed hydrophobic core that controls their stability. We develop a geometric, yet all-atom model for proteins that explains the universal core packing fraction of $\phi_c=0.55$ found in experimental measurements. We show that as the hydrophobic interactions increase relative to the temperature, a novel jamming transition occurs when the core packing fraction exceeds $\phi_c$. The model also recapitulates the global structure of proteins since it can accurately refold to native-like structures from partially unfolded states.

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Alex T. Grigas, Zhuoyi Liu, Jack A. Logan, Mark D. Shattuck, Corey S. O'Hern. 2024-05-15. Protein folding as a jamming transition. https://doi.org/10.1103/prxlife.3.013018

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