What is Anfinsen's dogma?
Q: What is Anfinsen's dogma?
A: Anfinsen's dogma is a hypothesis in molecular biology suggested by Christian Anfinsen that suggests that a protein folding into its native structure is done automatically by the protein's amino acid sequence.
Q: What are the three conditions for uniqueness, stability, and kinetical accessibility?
A: Uniqueness requires that the sequence does not have any other configuration with a comparable free energy. Stability means small changes in the surrounding environment cannot give rise to changes in the minimum configuration. Kinetical accessibility means the final shape can be got without going through any highly complex changes in the shape (like knots, for example).
Q: What is Levinthal's paradox?
A: The Levinthal paradox states that the number of possible conformations available to a given protein is astronomically large, such that even a small protein of 100 residues would require more time than the universe has existed to explore all possible conformations (1026 seconds) and choose the appropriate one.
Q: Are there any exceptions to Anfinsen's dogma?
A: Yes, prions and amyloid diseases such as Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (Mad Cow Disease), Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease are exceptions to Anfinsen's dogma.
Q: How did Christian Anfinsen win his Nobel Prize?
A: Christian Anfinsen won his Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on the structure of enzyme ribonuclease A.
Q: How do prions differ from native folding state?
A: Prions are stable conformations of proteins which differ from native folding state.
