A model of morphogenesis for protein secondary structures.

This paper proposes a model for the expected probability distribution for a certain class of biological structures. In particular, a model is derived for the distribution of lengths of helices, sheets, turns, and coils as a function of the length of the structure divided by the length of the protein it is contained in. A fit between the derived lognormal function and the structures for some proteins whose three-dimensional structure is known was significant. The fit produces fundamental parameters particular to each structure type that are related to the underlying structure and its morphogenesis. The importance of the result is that a universal mathematical distribution can be used to explain certain protein morphogeneses. Also, these fundamental parameters can be used as an aid in predicting whether a given sequence is a particular secondary structure or not, without a knowledge of its three-dimensional structure.