Question

The formation of _____ is determined by ______ interactions, whereas the formation of ____ is strongly influenced by ______ interactions.

(a) α-helices, long-range, α-helices, short-range

(b) α-helices, long-range, β-strands, short-range

(c) α-helices, short-range, β-strands, long-range

(d) β-strands, short-range, β-strands, long-range

The question was asked in exam.

This intriguing question originated from Protein Secondary Structure Prediction  for Globular Proteins topic in chapter Secondary Structure Prediction of Bioinformatics

Answer 1

Right option is (c) α-helices, short-range, β-strands, long-range

To explain I would say: Protein secondary structure prediction with high accuracy is not a trivial ask. It remained a very difficult problem for decades. This is because protein secondary structure elements are context dependent. The formation of α-helices is determined by short-range interactions, whereas the formation of β-strands is strongly influenced by long-range interactions. Prediction for long-range interactions is theoretically difficult. After more than three decades of effort, prediction accuracies have only been improved from about 50% to about 75%.