Abstract
There is now a paradigm in the study of an efficient modelling of biomolecular structure. The foundations of the physics and the elucidation of biological function of living organisms will be asserted on a clear geometrical language according the best ideas of D’arcy Thompson [1], Rashevsky [2], Schrödinger [3] and Anfmsen [4]. The present work aims to give a possible mathematical description of one of Nature’s services of noticeable importance in the organization of life and its maintenance: the specific geometric form of macromolecular structure as provided by the mathematical problem of organization of Steiner Minimal Trees. The energy minimization process which lead to the formation of a biomacromolecule can be understood and modelled by the search process of organization of Steiner trees as the representatives of the possible molecular configurations corresponding to local minima of the free energy. Life maintenance and the survival of the living organism is guaranteed by the competence of staying away from the Global minimum structure and its associated Steiner Minimal Tree.
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Mondaini, R.P. (2008). The Steiner Tree Problem and Its Application to the Modelling of Biomolecular Structures. In: Mondaini, R.P., Pardalos, P.M. (eds) Mathematical Modelling of Biosystems. Applied Optimization, vol 102. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-76784-8_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-76784-8_6
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