Researchers Provide Evidence of How Proteins Fold: "The theory proposes that proteins start to fold in specific places along an amino acid chain (called a polypeptide chain) that contains nonpolar groups, or groups of molecules without a charge, and continue to fold by aggregation, i.e., as several individuals of these nonpolar groupings combine. Using the same principle that separates oil and water, these molecules are hydrophobic -- they avoid water and associate with each other.

In the water-based cell fluid, where long polypeptide chains are manufactured and released by ribosomes, the polypeptide chains rapidly fold up into their biologically functional structure. The theory proposes that there are sites along the polypeptide chains where hydrophobic groups initially fold in on themselves, creating small nonpolar (hydrophobic) pockets that are protected from the water. "