Charles Denault III

A little thought I had while bear hunting in Canada.

I’m not too sure of the implications of this, nor do I know if there is a need… Hell, I don’t even know if it’s even remotely possible.

Here it goes:

You can take a piece of DNA that codes for a protein. You can then break it down into the specific amino acid. That’s pretty self explanatory. We’ve been doing that for years now. Then you know the specific order of the amino acids. You officially have the primary structure of the protein that is being coded.

Then, using a “cheat sheet” of sorts, you could determine whether the amino acids form an alpha helix or a pleated sheet when they’re linked with hydrogen bonds. You now have the secondary structure. Repeat this process until you determine the tertiary and quaternary structures.

We already know the exact structure of many proteins, so assuming the amino acids follow the same rules when they fold. A comprehensive database can be formed to describe the specific folding, linkage, etc. A simple program could easily render the structure, allowing us to easily view the entire structure. Whether or not this is already being done, I’m not too sure… but I thought it might be neat. Who knows what sort of implications this could have, perhaps it would be the first step in visualizing more complex interactions between proteins, organelles, cells, tissues! Who knows! After all, I do believe that there is a pattern beneath everything and every organism on this planet is just a set of instructions.