conformation sampling

We have long known that the characterization of protein three-dimensional structure is key to obtaining a detailed understanding of protein function. Computational approaches to protein structure characterization have largely addressed a narrow formulation of the problem, where the goal is the determination of one structure, also known as the native structure, from a given protein amino-acid sequence. However, many researchers over the years have argued for broadening our view of proteins to account for the multiplicity of native structures.