zlacker

>>MindGo+(OP)
Can someone put AlphaFold's problem space into perspective for me?

Why is protein folding important? Theoretical importance? Can we do something with protein folding knowledge? If so, what?

I've been hearing about AlphaFold from the CS side. There they seem to focus on protein folding primarily as an interesting space to apply their CS efforts.

>>dalbas+l7
You are basically made of proteins, which are basically folded sequences of amino acids, proteins are molecular machines that are the fundamental building block of animals, plants, bacteria, fungi, viruses etc.

So yeah the applications are enormous, from medicine to better industrial chemical processes, from warfare to food manufacturing.

>>fabios+P7
> proteins are molecular machines

Does that imply proteins have some dynamics that need to be predicted too? I remember seeing animations of molecular machines that appeared to be "walking" inside the body - are those proteins or more complex structures?

>>jebark+Vo
Yes proteins can be dynamic, and multiple proteins can come together to form bigger structures (like a cell's membrane for example), and they can very much interact with other proteins and molecules in complex ways.

I think AlphaFold gives us more of a static picture that doesn't tell us much about how the protein will interact with the world. Predicting these dynamic aspects, protein-to-protein interactions, and ultimately an entire cell, is probably what they'll like to do next.

I don't know if the walking buddy is a single protein, it may be a handful of different ones joined together.