Special Issue "Loop Entropy"

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Gregory S. Chirikjian
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 223 Latrobe Hall, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218-2682, USA
Website: https://custer.lcsr.jhu.edu/JHU_Robot_and_Protien_Kinematics_Lab
E-Mail: gregc@jhu.edu
Interests: computational structural biology (in particular, computational mechanics of large proteins); conformational statistics of biological macromolecules; developed theory for "hyper-redundant" (snakelike) robot motion planning; designs and builds hyper-redundant robotic manipulator arms; applied mathematics (applications of group theory in engineering); self-replicating robotic systems

Dear Colleagues,

Macromolecules such as polypeptides and nucleic acids form the basis for all living things. These molecules typically fold into tertiary structures that have highly ordered regions. However, it is often the case that some aspects of these tertiary structures remain underdetermined when viewed as a static object. This underdetermination manifests itself in the form of hinge and breathing motions, allosteric reorganization, intrinsically disordered regions, and loop motions. In this special issue of Entropy, models of the various aspects of conformational variability in biological macromolecules are examined. Concepts from polymer theory, statistical thermodynamics, computer science, molecular dynamics simulation, stochastic modeling, and information theory will be used to model the conformational disorder of biomolecules both in their denatured and folded states.

Gregory S. Chirikjian
Guest Editor

Submission

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• entropy
• statistical mechanics
• RNA
• DNA
• loops
• conformation
• molecular simulation
• stochastic models
• Brownian motion
• protein folding
• polymer theory