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Symmetry and the energy landscapes of biomolecules
1School of Chemical Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 61801, USA.
Abstract:
The role of symmetry in the folding of proteins is discussed using energy landscape theory. An analytical argument shows it is much easier to find sequences with funneled energy landscape capable of fast folding if the structure is symmetric. The analogy with phase transitions of small clusters with magic numbers is discussed.