Novel sampling algorithms can significantly impact open questions in
computational biology, most notably the in silico protein folding problem. By
using computational methods, protein folding aims to find the three-dimensional
structure of a protein chain given the sequence of its amino acid building
blocks. The complexity of the problem strongly depends on the protein
representation and its energy function. The more detailed the model, the more
complex its corresponding energy function and the more challenge it sets for
sampling algorithms. Kou, Zhou and Wong [math.ST/0507080] have introduced a
novel sampling method, which could contribute significantly to the field of
structural prediction.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/009053606000000470 in the
Annals of Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aos/) by the Institute of
Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org