After reading project 7809's description, and subsequently, Christian's "Project Manager Bio", I am now slightly confused on protein folding simulation accuracy. What brought upon this confusion is when it says how
and thathe is most interested in how protein folding in a cell is different than folding in a typical experiment or simulation
I realize that the simulations other than his that are being run must be accurate enough that they are worth performing and having papers written about. I would just like to know how much of an effect and how much different the conditions mentioned above make on the accuracy of simulations that do not take those conditions into consideration.The conditions are very different when comparing in vivo (i.e. in a cell) to in vitro (i.e. in a test tube) folding. For example:
1) Protein folding can occur co-translationally. This means that the protein can fold as it is being synthesized
2) Proteins in the cell are surrounded by a lot of things, like salts and chaperones, which can have a profound effect on the folding process
For these reasons, Christian would like to explore the folding process in the cell, which can hopefully provide new insight into the protein folding problem.
Hopefully this does not require a very scientific answer lol, or, if it does, that it can be dumbed down enough for the average person to understand. Thank you!