Last Updated：2025/12/06
The observation that, because of the very large number of degrees of freedom in an unfolded polypeptide chain, the molecule has an astronomically large number of possible conformations, and therefore sequentially sampling all the possible conformations is not practical, yet most small proteins fold spontaneously on a millisecond or even microsecond timescale.
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Levinthal's paradox
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Source Word
Levinthal's paradox
Proper noun
The
observation
that,
because
of
the
very
large
number
of
degrees
of
freedom
in
an
unfolded
polypeptide
chain,
the
molecule
has
an
astronomically
large
number
of
possible
conformations,
and
therefore
sequentially
sampling
all
the
possible
conformations
is
not
practical,
yet
most
small
proteins
fold
spontaneously
on
a
millisecond
or
even
microsecond
timescale.
Japanese Meaning
ポリペプチド鎖が未折り畳み状態にあるとき、多数の自由度により、理論上は天文学的な数の異なる立体構造（コンフォメーション）が存在する。しかし、それらすべてを1つずつ試すことは現実的ではなく、なおかつ多くの小型タンパク質はミリ秒あるいはマイクロ秒のごく短い時間で自発的に正しい折り畳み状態に到達するという観察結果を示す現象
Sense（1）
The
observation
that,
because
of
the
very
large
number
of
degrees
of
freedom
in
an
unfolded
polypeptide
chain,
the
molecule
has
an
astronomically
large
number
of
possible
conformations,
and
therefore
sequentially
sampling
all
the
possible
conformations
is
not
practical,
yet
most
small
proteins
fold
spontaneously
on
a
millisecond
or
even
microsecond
timescale.
