The Simplicity of Symmetry

Protein subunits attach to each other via interface surfaces to form complex structures. The greater the number of possible interfaces, the more complex a protein is. When the researchers looked at existing structures in the Protein Data Bank, they noticed that most proteins had few interfaces. Overall, it is much more common for nature to produce proteins with low complexity and high symmetry than proteins with high complexity and low symmetry. Computer simulations produced a similar result.