Jayanth Banavar, Penn State
Proteins form a very important class of polymers. In spite of major advances in the understanding of polymer science, the protein problem has remained largely unsolved. It will be shown that a polymer chain viewed as a tube not only captures the well-known characteristics of polymers and their phases but also provides a natural explanation for many of the key features of protein behavior. The motifs associated with the structures of short, thick tubes subject to compaction include the common building blocks of proteins - helices, hairpins and sheets. We suggest that Nature has selected this phase for the structures of proteins because of its many advantages including the few candidate structures, the ability to squeeze the water out from the hydrophobic core and the flexibility and versatility associated with being marginally compact. Our results provide a framework for understanding the common features of all proteins.