eli5 How does just folding a protein a different way make it do a completely different thing?
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Imagine that a protein is a machine like a car. Each part of the car has a specific function or role for meeting a particular goal. Seat belts are designed in a very specific way and can latch into a buckle. A steering wheel must be connected to the wheels in the right way. Under the hood of the car, the engine and all components must be hooked up exactly to carry out their function.
If you were to randomly rearrange any of these pieces in the car, it might do something different or fail to function at all. The car exists in a very specific way for the function it was designed to do. There is a chance that rearranging parts in some way might lead to something functional but most likely the car would be broken in some way.
In the same way, a protein evolved to fold into its specific shape for a purpose. Folding the protein a different way is much like rearranging the parts (domains) of the protein. It’s unlikely to produce a functioning protein but perhaps if you were lucky you could stumble upon another configuration that had a specific, new function.
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