Protein Physics

Protein Physics: A Course of Lectures covers the most general problems of protein structure, folding and function. It describes key experimental facts and introduces concepts and theories, dealing with fibrous, membrane, and water-soluble globular proteins, in both their native and denatured states. The book systematically summarizes and presents the results of several decades of worldwide fundamental research on protein physics, structure, and folding, describing many physical models that help readers make estimates and predictions of physical processes that occur in proteins. New to this revised edition is the inclusion of novel information on amyloid aggregation, natively disordered proteins, protein folding in vivo, protein motors, misfolding, chameleon proteins, advances in protein engineering & design, and advances in the modeling of protein folding. Further, the book provides problems with solutions, many new and updated references, and physical and mathematical appendices. In addition, new figures (including stereo drawings, with a special appendix showing how to use them) are added, making this an ideal resource for graduate and advanced undergraduate students and researchers in academia in the fields of biophysics, physics, biochemistry, biologists, biotechnology, and chemistry. Fully revised and expanded new edition based on the latest research developments in protein physics Written by the world's top expert in the field Deals with fibrous, membrane, and water-soluble globular proteins, in both their native and denatured states Summarizes, in a systematic form, the results of several decades of worldwide fundamental research on protein physics and their structure and folding Examines experimental data on protein structure in the post-genome era

Provides an introduction to the structure and function of biomolecules --- especially proteins --- and the physical tools used to investigate them The discussion concentrates on physical tools and properties, emphasizing techniques that are contributing to new developments and avoiding those that are already well established and whose results have already been exploited fully New tools appear regularly - synchrotron radiation, proton radiology, holography, optical tweezers, and muon radiography, for example, have all been used to open new areas of understanding

In Monte Carlo Methods in Chemical Physics: An Introduction to the Monte Carlo Method for Particle Simulations J. Ilja Siepmann Random Number Generators for Parallel Applications Ashok Srinivasan, David M. Ceperley and Michael Mascagni Between Classical and Quantum Monte Carlo Methods: "Variational" QMC Dario Bressanini and Peter J. Reynolds Monte Carlo Eigenvalue Methods in Quantum Mechanics and Statistical Mechanics M. P. Nightingale and C.J. Umrigar Adaptive Path-Integral Monte Carlo Methods for Accurate Computation of Molecular Thermodynamic Properties Robert Q. Topper Monte Carlo Sampling for Classical Trajectory Simulations Gilles H. Peslherbe Haobin Wang and William L. Hase Monte Carlo Approaches to the Protein Folding Problem Jeffrey Skolnick and Andrzej Kolinski Entropy Sampling Monte Carlo for Polypeptides and Proteins Harold A. Scheraga and Minh-Hong Hao Macrostate Dissection of Thermodynamic Monte Carlo Integrals Bruce W. Church, Alex Ulitsky, and David Shalloway Simulated Annealing-Optimal Histogram Methods David M. Ferguson and David G. Garrett Monte Carlo Methods for Polymeric Systems Juan J. de Pablo and Fernando A. Escobedo Thermodynamic-Scaling Methods in Monte Carlo and Their Application to Phase Equilibria John Valleau Semigrand Canonical Monte Carlo Simulation: Integration Along Coexistence Lines David A. Kofke Monte Carlo Methods for Simulating Phase Equilibria of Complex Fluids J. Ilja Siepmann Reactive Canonical Monte Carlo J. Karl Johnson New Monte Carlo Algorithms for Classical Spin Systems G. T. Barkema and M.E.J. Newman

' This book introduces an approach to protein folding from the point of view of kinetic theory. There is an abundance of data on protein folding, but few proposals are available on the mechanism driving the process. Here, presented for the first time, are suggestions on possible research directions, as developed by the author in collaboration with C C Lin. The first half of this invaluable book contains a concise but relatively complete review of relevant topics in statistical mechanics and kinetic theory. It includes standard topics such as thermodynamics, the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution, and ensemble theory. Special discussions include the dynamics of phase transitions, and Brownian motion as an illustration of stochastic processes. The second half develops topics in molecular biology and protein structure, with a view to discovering mechanisms underlying protein folding. Attention is focused on the energy flow through the protein in its folded state. A mathematical model, based on the Brownian motion of coupled harmonic oscillators, is worked out in the appendix. Contents:EntropyMaxwell–Boltzmann DistributionFree EnergyChemical PotentialPhase TransitionsKinetics of Phase TransitionsThe Order ParameterCorrelation FunctionStochastic ProcessesLangevin EquationThe Life ProcessSelf-AssemblyKinetics of Protein FoldingPower Laws in Protein FoldingSelf-Avoiding Walk and TurbulenceConvergent Evolution in Protein Folding Readership: Graduate students, researchers and academics interested in statistical physics and molecular biology. Keywords:Statistical Physics;Protein Folding;BiophysicsReviews:“My particularly favorite is the chapter on order parameters, explaining with simplicity and clarity this subject so frequently difficult and confusing for the beginning students … the book makes a strong attempt to place the protein folding problem where it really belongs — in the context of fundamental statistical mechanics. Whether the attempt is successful or not is a matter of a reader's opinion, but the very direction is both timely and welcome.”Professor Alexander Grosberg University of Minnesota '

Aimed at those working to enter this rapidly developing field, this volume on biological physics is written in a pedagogical style by leading scientists giving explanations that take their starting point where any physicist can follow and end at the frontier of research in biological physics. These lectures describe the state-of-the-art physics of biomolecules and cells. In biological systems ranging from single biomolecules to entire cells and larger biological systems, it focuses on aspects that require concepts and methods from physics for their analysis and understanding, such as the mechanics of motor proteins; how the genetic code is physically read and managed; the machinery of protein--DNA interactions; force spectroscopy of biomolecules' velopes, cytoskeletons, and cytoplasms; polymerization forces; listeria propulsion; cell motility; lab-on-a-chip nanotechnology for single-molecule analysis of biomolecules; bioinformatics; and coding and computational strategies of the brain.

Soft condensed matter physics, which emerged as a distinct branch of physics in the 1990s, studies complex fluids: liquids in which structures with length scale between the molecular and the macroscopic exist. Polymers, liquid crystals, surfactant solutions, and colloids fall into this category. Physicists deal with properties of soft matter system

A clear and intuitive introduction to the physics of charged macromolecules, from fundamentals to the latest research developments.

Protein Actions: Principles and Modeling is aimed at graduates, advanced undergraduates, and any professional who seeks an introduction to the biological, chemical, and physical properties of proteins. Broadly accessible to biophysicists and biochemists, it will be particularly useful to student and professional structural biologists and molecular biophysicists, bioinformaticians and computational biologists, biological chemists (particularly drug designers) and molecular bioengineers. The book begins by introducing the basic principles of protein structure and function. Some readers will be familiar with aspects of this, but the authors build up a more quantitative approach than their competitors. Emphasizing concepts and theory rather than experimental techniques, the book shows how proteins can be analyzed using the disciplines of elementary statistical mechanics, energetics, and kinetics. These chapters illuminate how proteins attain biologically active states and the properties of those states. The book ends with a synopsis the roles of computational biology and bioinformatics in protein science.