Frustration, function and folding

TL;DR

This paper explores the balance between physical constraints and biological functions in protein folding, highlighting how frustration in recurrent systems informs the evolution and encoding of biological information.

Contribution

It offers a conceptual framework linking protein folding, function, and evolutionary constraints through the notion of frustration in recurrent systems.

Findings

Frustration plays a key role in protein folding and function.

Physical constraints and biological goals often conflict in protein systems.

Understanding frustration provides insights into the evolution of biological information.

Abstract

Natural protein molecules are exceptional polymers. Encoded in apparently random strings of amino-acids, these objects perform clear physical tasks that are rare to find by simple chance. Accurate folding, specific binding, powerful catalysis, are examples of basic chemical activities that the great majority of polypeptides do not display, and are thought to be the outcome of the natural history of proteins. Function, a concept genuine to Biology, is at the core of evolution and often conflicts with the physical constraints. Locating the frustration between discrepant goals in a recurrent system leads to fundamental insights about the chances and necessities that shape the encoding of biological information.