Braid & knot theory in protein folding and genetics?

[Thomas Harke]

Alex <emacser at my-dejanews.com> writes:


>Hi.  I read recently that braid theory has some bearing on the protein
>folding problem, and knot theory has some bearing on genetics.  Could
>someone point me at some references which explain how?

Check out "Lifting the Curtain: Using Topology to Probe the Hidden Action
of Enzymes" by De Witt Sumners
(http://www.ams.org/notices/199505/sumners.html), or the course syllabus
for "Scientific Applications of Knot Theory with Applications to Biology,
Chemistry and Physics at http://www.va.gwu.edu/computation/cs-mb284.htm

I'm pretty sure these deal primarily with DNA.  I'd love to see how
braid theory applies to proteins.