Simple models of the protein folding problem

The protein folding problem has attracted an increasing attention from physicists. The problem has a flavor of statistical mechanics, but possesses the most common feature of most biological problems – the profound effects of evolution. I will give an introduction to the problem, and then focus on some recent work concerning the so-called “designability principle”. The designability of a structure is measured by the number of sequences that have that structure as their unique ground state. Structures differ drastically in terms of their designability; highly designable structures emerge with a number of associated sequences much larger than the average. These highly designable structures (1) possess “protein-like” secondary structures and motifs, (2) are thermodynamically more stable, (3) fold faster than other structures. These results suggest that protein structures are selected in nature because they are readily designed and stable against mutations, and that such selection simultaneously leads to thermodynamic stability and foldability. According to this picture, a key to the protein folding problem is to understand the emergence and the properties of the highly desginable structures.