Protein functioning through large scale structural changes

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(1) A new theory of energy transduction in actomyosin was developed. How does a muscle cell convert the chemical energy of ATP into the mechanical energy? This longdebated problem was analyzed with a new statistical mechanical theory. The observed stochastic sliding motions of myosin along the actin filament were explained with the model based on physically sound assumptions.(2) The functional selection of amino acid sequences was simulated by computer. The robustness of the selected amino acid sequences was demonstrated.(3) A new mechanism of photochemical cycle was studied with a statistical mechanical model of photoactive yellow protein (PYP). The important signaling state of PYP is a partially unfolded state, Unfolding and folding processes in the photocycle was studied by applying an energy landscape model of folding.(4) The folding kinetics of proteins were analyzed with a simplified lattice model, Effects of trapping to a relatively deep free energy valley was analyzed and compared with experiments on the kinetic partitioning process.