An amino-acid chain has so many possible conformations that testing them one by one would outlast the universe, yet a real protein folds in a few thousandths of a second, because the hydrophobic core collapses and drags the rest of the chain with it. The extended chain first coils into α-helices and β-sheets, and those elements pack into a compact three-dimensional shape: the more deeply the core is buried, the lower the energy and the more stable the fold. Too much heat unravels the fold into denaturation, while misfolding lets chains stick together into amyloid fibres.
An amino-acid chain has so many possible conformations that testing them one by one would outlast the universe, yet a real protein folds in a few thousandths of a second, because the hydrophobic core collapses and drags the rest of the chain with it. The extended chain first coils into α-helices and β-sheets, and those elements pack into a compact three-dimensional shape: the more deeply the core is buried, the lower the energy and the more stable the fold. Too much heat unravels the fold into denaturation, while misfolding lets chains stick together into amyloid fibres.
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