Hydrogen bonds in polymer folding.
We studied the thermodynamics of a homopolymeric chain with both van der Waals and directed hydrogen bond interaction. The effect of hydrogen bonds is to reduce dramatically the entropy of low-lying states and to give rise to long-range order and to conformations displaying secondary structures. For compact polymers a transition is found between helix-rich states and low-entropy sheet-dominated states. The consequences of this transition for protein folding and, in particular, for the problem of prions are discussed.
Borg
J
J
Niels Bohr Institute and Nordita, Blegdamsvej 17, DK-2100, Denmark.
Jensen
M H
MH
Sneppen
K
K
Tiana
G
G
D006860:Hydrogen Bonding; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry
D011108:Polymers; D011506:Proteins