Algorithmic complexity of a protein

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Abstract
The information contained in a protein's amino acid sequence dictates its three-dimensional structure. To quantitate the transfer of information that occurs in the protein folding process, the Kolmogorov information entropy or algorithmic complexity of the protein structure is investigated. The algorithmic complexity of an object provides a means of quantitating its information content. Recent results have indicated that the algorithmic complexity of microstates of certain statistical mechanical systems can be estimated from the thermodynamic entropy. In the present work, it is shown that the algorithmic complexity of a protein is given by its configurational entropy. Using this result, a quantitative estimate of the information content of a protein's structure is made and is compared to the information content of the sequence. Additionally, the mutual information between sequence and structure is determined. It is seen that virtually all the information contained in the protein structure is shared with the sequence.

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