1998/04/16 by Josh P. Kemp, Zheng Yu Chen · 2 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Chemistry · Physics and Astronomy · #Mass Spectrometry Techniques and Applications #Protein Structure and Dynamics #Scientific Research and Discoveries #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.81.3880
5 pages, 2 figures, Submitted to PRL
arxiv created 1998/04/16 · openalex publication_date 1998/11/02 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We propose a potential for wormlike polymer chains which could be used to model the low-temperature polypeptide structures. We successfully reproduced helix ground states up to 6.5 helical loops, using the multicanonical Monte Carlo simulation method. We demonstrate that the coil-helix transition involves four distinct states: coil (gaslike), collapsed globular (liquidlike), and two helical states I and II (both solidlike). The helix I state is characterized by a helical ordering with dangling loose ends, and the helix II state corresponds to a near-perfect helical ordering in the entirely crystallized chain.