U.S.-China Cooperative Research (Molecular Biology): ScaledProtein Folding

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This proposal addresses one of the most pressing questions in molecular biology today - how to predict the folding of globular proteins from their amino acid sequence. In collaboration with Y.H. Wang of Jilin University in China, Dr. Crippen will verify, analyze and extend preliminary observations that native protein conformations can be described very compactly in terms of Fourier and other such transforms, and that these transforms correlate strongly with the protein's amino acid sequence. The subsequent goal is to develop an algorithm for searching for low energy conformations of a protein using Fourier coefficients as the primary variables. Whether the search method amounts to molecular dynamics, some kind of local or global energy minimization, or Monte Carlo procedure, the method would first manipulate the large scale features of conformation and then later adjust the small scale details. The relation between this procedure and theories of protein folding mechanisms would be explored. This project brings together two scientists, one from China, and one from the US, who share a common interest and a novel approach to an important problem in molecular biology.