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SUMMARY:Breaking the Protein Amino Acid Code (aka the Code of Life) - J. C
 . Phillips\, Rutgers
DTSTART:20080516T143000Z
DTEND:20080516T153000Z
UID:TALK12114@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Mike Payne
DESCRIPTION:Monolayer water films mediate interactions between proteins th
 at determine protein functionality.  Conventional molecular dynamics simul
 ations view protein-water interactions in terms of “flickering” hydrog
 en bonds\, parameterized by classical force fields with multiple adjustabl
 e parameters adjusted to fit dry crystallized protein structures.  Followi
 ng Pauling (and his pioneering electronegativity scale) and myself (the ex
 act dielectric ionicity scale for semiconductors)\, I examine several univ
 ersal hydrophobicity scales\, and identify the best one\, which appears al
 so to be exact!.  With this scale one can recognize phantom water-protein 
 interactions that are invisible to conventional analysis\, and analyze pro
 tein functionality\, as illustrated by several examples of proteins contai
 ning 300-900+ amino acid side groups. The success of this scale confirms a
 n attractive conjecture\, that proteins have evolved to be self-organized 
 critical ensembles.
LOCATION:TCM Seminar Room\, Cavendish Laboratory
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