MECHANISM OF PROTEIN FOLDING

The first stage of protein self‐organization—the formation of a fluctuating secondary structure in the unfolded protein chain—is considered. The stereochemical theory is presented enabling one to calculate helix‐coil and β‐structure‐coil equilibrium constants. It is shown that the most probable localization of fluctuating α‐ and β‐structure in the unfolded protein chain corresponds to the native localization of these structures. The formation of large α‐ and β‐structural blocks is observed, each of them including several native α‐helices or β‐strands. Copyright © 1979 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.