Hybrid Or bitals Analysis of the Tertiary Structure of Protein Molecules†

Abstract

The structure and shape of thepolypeptide chainsof proteins are determined by the hybridized states of the atomic orbitals in the molecular chain. The calculatedsratio in
thespnhybrid orbitals is computed from the fractal dimensionDof the tertiary structures of 43 proteins selected to cover the five structural classes of protein molecules. A brief introduction to fractal theory is given in the text. It is demonstrated that the principles dictating the folding of the local and global backbone structures are well characterized in terms of the representation given by fractal theory. Comparison of the fractal character of protein molecules with that of the ideal Gaussian chain revealed several features of these principles. It is also shown that proteins in thetype structural class are distinguished