International Advisory Committee

In this paper, we present the studies of an ultrametric mathematical model for protein operation and give them physical interpretations that extend the conventional view of enzymatic activity regulation. The model is based on a representation of a multidimensional rugged energy landscapes by a hierarchy of nested basins of local minima and an approximation of protein dynamics with an ultrametric random walk. In contrast to an ordinary random walk, the ultrametric random walk is more suitable for describing of multiscale conformational dynamics and it is consistent with the kinetic features of ligand binding. Using our ultrametric model we show different ways to regulate enzymatic activity.