Protein study from a biokinematic perspective: literature review

Abstract

Proteins are the macromolecules responsible for almost every

function living organisms need to exist. These macromolecules,

which resemble small mechanisms or robots, were discovered

200 years ago, and first seen in their functional form less than 60

years ago, and they represent one of the more challenging areas

of study. Protein study is an incredibly rich and multidisciplinary

field, as it needs to be studied from different areas such as

biology, physics or engineering. Current research involves great

challenges since we are far from understanding how does the

interaction between atoms work and the actual technology

limitations represent a big obstacle when trying to understand

how these nature robots operate. In this paper, a brief state

of the art of the methodologies aimed at the study of protein

folding or molecular mechanism simulation is presented. The

paper is specifically focussed on procedures closely related

to engineering and mechanism and machine study, without

forgetting some classic methodologies which help understanding

the global state of the art.