Pat Hayes <pha...@ihmc.us> writes: >> Besides which, the issue being discussed here is one of equality. When >> are two proteins the same protein? > > TWO proteins are never the same protein. Two mangelwurzels are never the same > mangelwurzel, either. What 'same' means, is that there is ONE thing with two > names. Being the same as is never a relationship between two different > things.
This is obvious; the question is about types of proteins. A statement like: "every protein molecule in the world is different from every other protein molecule" is true, but more or less totally useless. We are talking about proteins not protein molecules; if I give you a solution of protein molecules, all the same, and you split it into two halves, do you now suddenly have two proteins? Protein is a mass term. You would agree that two glasses of water both hold the same substance; just so for protein. The question is, then, when are two samples of protein, samples of the same protein. A secondary question is, how do we represent this computationally. We are going around in circles here; I think that I have said enough. Phil