Self-assembly and evolution of homomeric protein complexes.

We introduce a simple "patchy particle" model to study the thermodynamics and dynamics of self-assembly of homomeric protein complexes. Our calculations allow us to rationalize recent results for dihedral complexes. Namely, why evolution of such complexes naturally takes the system into a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Villar, G, Wilber, A, Williamson, A, Thiara, P, Doye, J, Louis, A, Jochum, M, Lewis, A, Levy, E
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society 2009
Description
Summary:We introduce a simple "patchy particle" model to study the thermodynamics and dynamics of self-assembly of homomeric protein complexes. Our calculations allow us to rationalize recent results for dihedral complexes. Namely, why evolution of such complexes naturally takes the system into a region of interaction space where (i) the evolutionarily newer interactions are weaker, (ii) subcomplexes involving the stronger interactions are observed to be thermodynamically stable on destabilization of the protein-protein interactions, and (iii) the self-assembly dynamics are hierarchical with these same subcomplexes acting as kinetic intermediates.