Quantitative Relations in Protein and RNA Folding Deduced from Quantum Theory

ABSTRACT Quantitative relations in protein and RNA folding are deduced from the quantum folding theory of macromolecules. It includes: deduction of the law on the temperature-dependence of folding rate and its tests on protein dataset; study on the chain-length dependence of the folding rate for a large class of biomolecules; deduction of the statistical relation of folding free energy versus chain-length; and deduction of the statistical relation between folding rate and chain length and its test on protein and RNA dataset. In the above quantum approach the influence of the solvent environment factor on folding rate has been taken into account automatically. The successes of the deduction of these new relations from the first principle and their successful comparison with experimental data afford strong evidence on the possible existence of a common quantum mechanism in the conformational change of biomolecules.