Downard Kevin M
Infectious Disease Responses Laboratory, Prince of Wales Clinical Research Sciences, , NSW Sydney, Australia.
Eur J Mass Spectrom (Chichester). 2025 Jun;31(3-4):73-78. doi: 10.1177/14690667251339718. Epub 2025 May 15.
The nominal mass of amino acid residues calculated from their elemental compositions are defined by prime numbers far more often than chance, and such residues appear to play an important role in the formation and biology of proteins. It is proposed therefore that consideration be given to classifying prime mass amino acids as such, beyond the more common, familiar definitions associated with the other physicochemical properties of amino acids including charged or non-charged, hydrophobic or hydrophilic, polar or non-polar, acidic or basic, aliphatic or aromatic. Greater focus could also be given to such residues during peptide and protein sequencing with mass spectrometry and the construction of structural maps, given their predominantly hydrophobic character and thus their role in protein folding and transmembrane domains. The use of prime numbers to define amino acids based on the sum of the atomic masses from their elemental compositions invokes other recent interest and observations whereby prime numbers were organised in a way that mirrors electrons arranged within the orbitals of an atom. The article links number theory with both the physical and biological sciences, and mass spectrometry, for the first time.
根据氨基酸的元素组成计算出的标称质量由质数定义的频率远远高于随机概率，并且这些氨基酸残基似乎在蛋白质的形成和生物学过程中发挥着重要作用。因此，有人提议除了根据氨基酸的其他物理化学性质（包括带电或不带电、疏水或亲水、极性或非极性、酸性或碱性、脂肪族或芳香族）给出的更常见、熟悉的定义之外，还应考虑将具有质数质量的氨基酸进行分类。鉴于它们主要的疏水特性以及因此在蛋白质折叠和跨膜结构域中的作用，在利用质谱进行肽和蛋白质测序以及构建结构图的过程中，也可以更多地关注这些氨基酸残基。基于氨基酸元素组成的原子质量总和用质数来定义氨基酸，这引发了其他近期的研究兴趣和观察结果，即质数的排列方式反映了原子轨道内电子的排列方式。本文首次将数论与物理科学、生物科学以及质谱联系起来。
