Protein Geometry, Function and Mutation

Abstract

This survey for mathematicians summarizes several works by the author on protein geometry and protein function with applications to viral glycoproteins in general and the spike glycoprotein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in particular. Background biology and biophysics are sketched. This body of work culminates in a postulate that protein secondary structure regulates mutation, with backbone hydrogen bonds materializing in critical regions to avoid mutation, and disappearing from other regions to enable it.