Foldit, online PC game, folding proteins
Foldit is a 3D model game where players are restricted by rules of nature and challenged to virtually fold proteins. Although the rules are fairly simple, the strategy involved is not, but playing the game doesn’t require any scientific knowledge. This didn’t stop someone from coming up with the brilliant idea to put Foldit gamers to the test, and present them with the challenge of decoding the puzzle of an enzyme that has stumped scientists for over a decade.
Random coil on left, folded protein on right
The M-PMV retroviral protein is an intricate enzyme that scientists have been studying as a possible clue towards a cure for HIV. Like other enzymes it has millions of possible combinations of how it can be folded. Before amino acids interact with each other, they exist as random coils of polypeptides that lack any stable three-dimensional structure. Knowing a protein’s correct three-dimensional structure and how to obtain it is important: uncoiled or inactive proteins and misfolded proteins cause toxins, allergies and are believed to be the cause of several known diseases.
Because of the spatial reasoning required for this particular type of puzzle, even “high-end computers with large processing power” could not solve the puzzle of how to properly fold the M-PMV. In what has been described as a long-shot, a biologist from University of Washington sent a virtual 3D model of M-PMV to Foldit, to let gamers have a crack at the code. Challenging each other, working together and off of each others’ advancements, Foldit gamers solved the puzzle in just ten days.
This opens up a whole new take on the phrase, “View a problem with fresh eyes”. Now, ears are perked and a whole new concept is being born of using gaming to problem-solve areas of science where the “egg-heads” are getting stumped (no offense, scientifically-educated peoples: it’s an inside joke – – we love ya!), so bust out the old Orange Box and get back to practicing puzzles: gaming just got REAL!
Sources: ZME Science, Wikipedia
Thanks to EdieKaye, Halo Diehards News Team, for the heads up on this article!
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