Physics of Proteins

Physics and the life sciences have established new connections within the past few decades. Many physics departments now have strong groups working in biological physics. The interaction between physics and the life sciences is a two-way street. Physics can provide new tools and new concepts for understanding life, while biological systems canyield new insights into the physics of complex systems. One difficulty that may occur when a physicist starts working with biologists and biochemists is language. The same word can mean different things and the same concept may have different names in the two fields.§To address these issues, Physics of Proteins: An Introduction to Molecular Biophysics is divided into three interconnected parts. The early chapters introduce the terminology and describe the main biological systems that physicists will encounter. These chapters are short and concerned with fundamental concepts of living systems. The central section dives into the dynamics of complex systems. Similarities between biomolecules, glasses, and supercooled liquids are stressed and the emphasis is on concepts, not details. A central theme is the realization that biological systems, in particular proteins, do not exist in unique conformations but can assume a very large number of slightly different structures. This complexity is captured in the concept of a free energy landscape and leads to the realization that fluctuations are crucial for the function of biological systems. The final chapter of this section challenges the reader to apply these concepts to a problem that appears in the current literature. An extensive series of appendices provide descriptions of the central concepts in physical tools and analysis that have proven powerful in the study of the physics of proteins. The appendices are designed to be consulted throughout the section on protein dynamics without breaking the deductive flow of the logic in the central section.