标题： 蛋白质折叠简介 for 物理学家 显示英文标题

标题： Introduction to protein folding for physicists

摘要： 从蛋白质的氨基酸序列来预测其三维天然结构的问题，被称为蛋白质折叠问题，是现代科学中最重要却仍未解决的问题之一。 由于柔性分子的构象行为不过是一个复杂的物理问题，越来越多的物理学家正在进入蛋白质系统的研究领域，他们带来了强大的数学和计算工具，以及物理学学科固有的敏锐直觉和深刻图像。 这项工作试图促进这种转变的第一步。 为了实现这一目标，我们详细阐述了蛋白质折叠问题巨大重要性的根本原因，并总结了目前用于解决该问题的方法的现状。 我们还介绍了这些生物杂聚合物的特殊结构，并从物理角度定义了这个问题，阐明了这一定义背后的假设（通常是隐含的）。 最后，我们回顾了通常用于研究大分子天文数量级相空间的统计力学的“特殊风味”。 在整个工作中，散见于文献中的大量材料在这里被整理在一起，以提高理解力并作为实用的参考。 显示英文摘要

摘要： The prediction of the three-dimensional native structure of proteins from the knowledge of their amino acid sequence, known as the protein folding problem, is one of the most important yet unsolved issues of modern science. Since the conformational behaviour of flexible molecules is nothing more than a complex physical problem, increasingly more physicists are moving into the study of protein systems, bringing with them powerful mathematical and computational tools, as well as the sharp intuition and deep images inherent to the physics discipline. This work attempts to facilitate the first steps of such a transition. In order to achieve this goal, we provide an exhaustive account of the reasons underlying the protein folding problem enormous relevance and summarize the present-day status of the methods aimed to solving it. We also provide an introduction to the particular structure of these biological heteropolymers, and we physically define the problem stating the assumptions behind this (commonly implicit) definition. Finally, we review the 'special flavor' of statistical mechanics that is typically used to study the astronomically large phase spaces of macromolecules. Throughout the whole work, much material that is found scattered in the literature has been put together here to improve comprehension and to serve as a handy reference.