Decoding the Design Principles of Amino Acids and the Chemical Logic of Protein Sequences

Abstract

That only 20 amino acids occur naturally accounting for the structural and functional diversity of proteins remains a mystery. We show here that this is a consequence of the action of a symmetry group, identify the presence of hydrogen bond donor groups, presence of sp3 hybridized [gamma] carbons, absence of [delta] carbons and linearity as properties central to side chain design and quantify the chemical logic of protein sequences.