The principle of compromise in competition: exploring stability condition of protein folding  

竞争中的协调:探索蛋白质折叠的稳定性条件（英文）

作　　者：徐骥 韩孟之 任瑛 李静海 

机构地区：[1]State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Complex Systems, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences [2]University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

出　　处：《Science Bulletin》2015年第1期76-85,共10页科学通报（英文版）

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(21103195);the Knowledge Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences(KGCX2-YW-124)

摘　　要：Thermodynamic hypothesis and kinetic stabil- ity are currently used to understand protein folding. The former assumes that free energy minimum is the exclusive dominant mechanism in most cases, while the latter shows that some proteins have even lower free energy in inter- mediate states and their native states are kinetically trapped in the higher free energy region. This article explores the stability condition of protein structures on the basis of our study of complex chemical systems. We believe that sep- arating one from another is not reasonable since they should be coupled, and protein structures should be dom- inated by at least two mechanisms resulting in different characteristic states. It is concluded that： （1） Structures of proteins are dynamic, showing multiple characteristic states emerging alternately and each dominated by a respective mechanism. （2） Compromise in competition of multiple dominant mechanisms might be the key to understanding the stability of protein structures. （3） The dynamic process of protein folding should be depicted through the time series of both its energetic and structural changes, which is much meaningful and applicable than the free energy landscape.目前,关于蛋白质折叠机理有热力学假设和动力学稳定性2种理解.前者认为,在多数体系中,自由能最小是唯一控制机制;后者则发现,不少蛋白质的折叠中间体比天然结构的自由能更低,因此,认为天然结构为动力学受陷于自由能较高的区域.基于我们对复杂化学体系的研究,本文探索了蛋白质结构的稳定性条件.我们认为,热力学假设和动力学稳定性应联合起来理解,而不应彼此孤立;蛋白质结构应受至少2种控制机制协调作用,由此导致多种特征状态.研究结果表明:(1)蛋白质结构是动态的,多种特征结构交替出现,每种结构均受一种控制机制主导;(2)多种控制机制在竞争中的协调可能是研究蛋白质结构的稳定性条件的关键;(3)蛋白质折叠过程应通过其能量和结构随时间的变化进行描述,这比采用自由能曲面更有意义.

关 键 词：Protein folding Dynamic structure -Multiple mechanisms Compromise in competitionMesoscale STABILITY 

分 类 号：Q51[生物学—生物化学]