How much can we know? the protein form/function enigma (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, August 06, 2019, 19:21 (1718 days ago) @ dhw

Protein form and shape creates the living functions. We have no idea how or why it works:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/06/190626125052.htm

"In a surprising marriage of science and art, researchers have developed a system for converting the molecular structures of proteins, the basic building blocks of all living beings, into audible sound that resembles musical passages. Then, reversing the process, they can introduce some variations into the music and convert it back into new proteins never before seen in nature.

***

"Buehler says that after listening to the resulting melodies, he is now able to distinguish certain amino acid sequences that correspond to proteins with specific structural functions. "That's a beta sheet," he might say, or "that's an alpha helix."

"The whole concept, Buehler explains, is to get a better handle on understanding proteins and their vast array of variations. Proteins make up the structural material of skin, bone, and muscle, but are also enzymes, signaling chemicals, molecular switches, and a host of other functional materials that make up the machinery of all living things. But their structures, including the way they fold themselves into the shapes that often determine their functions, are exceedingly complicated. "They have their own language, and we don't know how it works," he says. "We don't know what makes a silk protein a silk protein or what patterns reflect the functions found in an enzyme. We don't know the code."

"By translating that language into a different form that humans are particularly well-attuned to, and that allows different aspects of the information to be encoded in different dimensions -- pitch, volume, and duration -- Buehler and his team hope to glean new insights into the relationships and differences between different families of proteins and their variations, and use this as a way of exploring the many possible tweaks and modifications of their structure and function. As with music, the structure of proteins is hierarchical, with different levels of structure at different scales of length or time.

***

"This way of encoding structure into music does reflect a deeper reality. "When you look at a molecule in a textbook, it's static," Buehler says. "But it's not static at all. It's moving and vibrating. Every bit of matter is a set of vibrations. And we can use this concept as a way of describing matter.'"

Comment: Reading this, design cannot be doubted.