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Phoenix666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

Phys.org [phys.org]:

The team of Alireza Mashaghi at the Leiden Academic Center for Drug Research has found a way to determine and classify the shape of proteins. Their new theory defines the topology of proteins as a simple and precise barcode that allows the identification of all types of folds. This barcode enables among others more profound research into diseases caused by misfolding proteins, such as neuromuscular diseases and some sorts of cancer.
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"We are all familiar with tying a rope into a knot," says Mashaghi. "Just like that, molecular chains in our cells are folded into proteins and genes. Our goal was to find a way to describe these knots in a mathematical way, to describe the topology (see text box below) of proteins." About half a century ago, Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling, predicted that one day it would become clear that this topology of biological molecules is as important in determining the physiological properties as the chemical structure of molecules. He also predicted that this insight would lead to great advances in biology and medicine.

The creators hope their taxonomy for the topology of proteins will aid research.

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