# Simulated Epidemics in 3D Protein Structures to Detect Functional Properties

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel method using simulated epidemics on 3D protein structures' interaction networks to analyze protein stability and identify functional sites, bridging epidemiological models and structural biology.

## Contribution

It applies epidemic spreading models to protein interaction networks, providing a new computational approach for assessing stability and detecting allosteric sites.

## Key findings

- Effective in assessing thermal stability
- Capable of identifying allosteric sites
- Provides insights into protein functional properties

## Abstract

The outcome of an epidemic is closely related to the network of interactions between the individuals. Likewise, protein functions depend on the 3D arrangement of their residues and on the underlying energetic interaction network. Borrowing ideas from the theoretical framework that has been developed to address the spreading of real diseases, we study the diffusion of a fictitious epidemic inside the protein non-bonded interaction network. Our approach allowed to probe the overall stability and the capability to propagate information in the complex 3D-structures and proved to be very efficient in addressing different problems, from the assessment of thermal stability to the identification of allosteric sites.