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What did Linus Pauling and Alfred Mirsky discover about protein structure?
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Linus Pauling
Theoretical physical chemist Linus Pauling, photograph by Yousuf Karsh.
In 1936, Linus Pauling and biochemist Alfred Mirsky published a significant paper regarding protein structure.1
They proposed that protein molecules naturally exist in specific, coiled configurations. Furthermore, they explained that these proteins become "denatured"âmeaning they uncoil and assume a random formâwhen certain weak bonds within the structure are broken. This work was foundational in understanding how the native conformation of proteins is maintained and how it can be disrupted.12