Allosteric communication in proteins is a central and yet not solved problem of structural biochemistry. Molecular communication in proteins requires the existence of allosteric pathways. Previous findings, from computational biology (Ota and Agard, 2005), has proposed that heat diffuses in a protein through  allosteric pathways. In this work we studied heat diffusion in the well know PDZ-2 protein . This protein has two cognate allosteric pathways and we confirm that heat flows preferentially through them . Also, a new property is observed for protein structures : heat diffuses asymmetrically through them . The underling structure of this asymmetrical heat flow is the hydrogen bond of normal length (~2.85 {\AA}) , that can act as a thermal diode. Also asymmetrical heat diffusion is due, in } a higher scale, to local URLanization of residues  . This asymmetrical  energy flow may be relevant for allosteric signal communication directionality in protein structures .
Allosteric communication in proteins is a central and yet unsolved problem of structural biochemistry. Previous findings, from computational biology (Ota and Agard, 2005), have proposed that heat diffuses in a protein through cognate protein allosteric pathways. This work studied heat diffusion in the well-known PDZ-2 protein , and confirmed that this protein has two cognate allosteric pathways and that heat flows preferentially through these . Also, a new property was also observed for protein structures - heat diffuses asymmetrically through the structures . The underling structure of this asymmetrical heat flow was a normal length hydrogen bond (~2.85 {\AA}) that acted as a thermal rectifier. In contrast, thermal rectification was compromised in short hydrogen bonds (~2.60 \AA}), giving rise to symmetrical thermal diffusion. Asymmetrical heat diffusion was due, on a higher scale, to the local, URLanization of residues that, in turn, was also mediated by hydrogen bonds . This asymmetrical /symmetrical energy flow may be relevant for allosteric signal communication directionality in proteins and for the control of heat flow in materials science .
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