Resumo

OLIVARES-QUIROZ, Luis  e  GARCIA-COLIN SCHERER, Leopoldo. Plegamiento de las proteínas: Un problema interdisciplinario. Rev. Soc. Quím. Méx [online]. 2004, vol.48, n.1, pp.95-105. ISSN 0583-7693.

L Pauling's theoretical prediction (1951) on the existence of a thermodynamically stable helicoidal configuration for certain biological molecules, proposes for the first time a bridge between Molecular Biology and Physics. The experimental confirmation of this fact came out from both Watson and Crick in 1953 for DNA molecule and Kendrew et al. in 1958 for the myoglobine molecule. Simultaneously, these remarkable experiments provided solid evidence for the form-function paradigm. An outstanding example of this paradigm is the so called protein folding mechanism. In this process, a one-dimensional chain of aminoacids is transformed into three-dimensional structure with biological activity. In this work we review some of physical approaches developed over the past decades to shed some light into one of the greatest challenges faced by Physics, Chemistry and Biology along the last century.

Palavras-chave : Protein folding; energy landscape; spin glasses; heteropolymer freezing transition; hydrofobic interaction; native state; protein thermodynamics.