Wave patterns in α-helix proteins with interspine coupling

Modulational instability is a direct way by which localized structures emerge in nonlinear systems. We investigate analytically, through the linear stability of plane wave solutions, the existence of localized structures in α-helix proteins with three spines. Through numerical simulations, trains of pulses are found and confirm our analytical predictions. The presence of higher-order interactions between adjacent spines tends to suppress the formed localized structures for erratic ones to emerge. These erratic structures are highly localized and rather reinforce the idea that the energy to be used in metabolic processes is rather confined to specific regions for its efficiency.