Single-molecule unfolding force distributions reveal a funnel-shaped energy landscape
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
- Technical University of Munich
Abstract
The protein folding process is described as diffusion on a high-dimensional energy landscape. Experimental data showing details of the underlying energy surface are essential to understanding folding. So far in single-molecule mechanical unfolding experiments a simplified model assuming a force-independent transition state has been used to extract such information. Here we show that this so-called Bell model, although fitting well to force velocity data, fails to reproduce full unfolding force distributions. We show that by applying Kramers' diffusion model, we were able to reconstruct a detailed funnel-like curvature of the underlying energy landscape and establish full agreement with the data. We demonstrate that obtaining spatially resolved details of the unfolding energy landscape from mechanical single-molecule protein unfolding experiments requires models that go beyond the Bell model.
Details
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | L33-L35 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | Biophysical journal |
Volume | 90 |
Issue number | 4 |
Publication status | Published - Feb 2006 |
Peer-reviewed | Yes |
External IDs
Scopus | 33645767959 |
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ORCID | /0000-0002-6209-2364/work/142237650 |
Keywords
Keywords
- ADHESION BONDS, PROTEIN, SPECTROSCOPY, STRENGTH