An optimal derivation of a potential for protein folding

We present a general method of derivation of a potential for protein folding. At a given temperature, the parameters of the potential are obtained by imposing a required thermodynamic stability to a dataset of sequences on their respective native structures, determined experimentally or otherwise. As test cases, we recover exactly the pairwise energy parameters for two simple lattice models in two dimensions. We discuss the sensitivity of the folded state to imperfections in the energy parameters determination and to the precision with which thermodynamic stability parameters are given.