Publication Date:
2005-02-19
Description:
The helix is a ubiquitous motif for biopolymers. We propose a heuristic, entropically based model that predicts helix formation in a system of hard spheres and semiflexible tubes. We find that the entropy of the spheres is maximized when short stretches of the tube form a helix with a geometry close to that found in natural helices. Our model could be directly tested with wormlike micelles as the tubes, and the effect could be used to self-assemble supramolecular helices.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Snir, Yehuda -- Kamien, Randall D -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2005 Feb 18;307(5712):1067.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15718461" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Colloids
;
*Entropy
;
Microspheres
;
Models, Chemical
;
*Molecular Conformation
;
Polymers/*chemistry
;
Protein Folding
;
*Protein Structure, Secondary
;
Proteins/*chemistry
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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