The mystery of protein folding: Nobel laureate summarizes his insights into the physical backgrounds
Tuesday, August 14, 2012 - 11:32
in Biology & Nature
Living subjects are very complex systems and, at the same time, stunningly robust and accommodative. The secret of success are their proteins which build up the cells of the organisms, act as cleaners, messengers, transporter, motors, and fulfill much more jobs. How proteins are genetically coded and how their linear chains of amino acids are put together, is in principle well known. Yet, this is not the full story. Before proteins can do their jobs, they have to be folded in a proper way. This is important because the shape determines the function of the protein. And misfolded proteins can cause severe health disorders, such as Morbus Alzheimer. The cause seems to be that they tend to aggregate into so called amyloid plaques.