eli5 How does just folding a protein a different way make it do a completely different thing?
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The art of Origami is folding a piece of paper into different shapes.
There are hundreds of different shapes a dollar bill can be folded into.
Each shape not only looks different, but end up different sizes, as well as can do different things, yet ALL started with the same dollar bill.
People have posted lock and key analogies, puzzle piece analogies, etc…. but it is a lot, lot more subtle than that.
Imagine a 3D game of tetris. The next dropping piece not only has to fit the available pattern of just one protein, but of all of the other proteins that have also previously interlocked….
And then, to make it even more wild and difficult, the 3D tetris pieces are magnetic, with different Norths and Souths. The next piece not only has to fit perfectly in the available hole, but the magnets have to match too. North to South, South to north. Throw in one wrong N-N area, and pooey! Even if there was a physical match, the pairing is rejected due to wrong magnetics.
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