Biochemists at Oregon State University have made a fundamental discovery about protein structure that sheds new light on how proteins fold — one of the most basic processes of life. Even the process of thinking involves proteins at the end of one neuron passing a message to different proteins on the next neuron.Scientists previously thought is was impossible to characterize these changes, in part because the transitions are so incredibly small and fleeting. Proteins convert from one observable shape to another in less than one trillionth of a second, and in molecules that are less than one millionth of an inch in size. These changes have been simulated by computers, but no one had ever observed how they happen.
Protein-folding discovery opens a window on basic life processes
