FOLDING, INVERSE FOLDING AND ENERGY LANDSCAPES
But in what shape they choose,
Dilated or condensed...
Can execute their aery purposes.JOHN MILTON
Paradise Lost
Current understandingof protein folding was borne out of reconciling experimental evidence that proteins fold reversibly with the well accepted notion that they fold quickly. Only recently have similar advances occurred in inverse protein folding. Understanding of both is facilitated by the notion of the conformational energy landscape and the statistical mechanical interpretation of folding on it. Typical landscapes are rugged and exhibit topographic features which impede stable, fast folding exhibited by biological proteins; both real and successfully designed proteins require special energy landscapes.