Abstract
Single-molecule mechanical manipulation has enabled quantitative understanding of not only the kinetics of both bond rupture and protein unfolding, but also the free energy landscape of chemical bond andor protein folding. Despite recent studies reporting the role of loading device in bond rupture, a loading device effect on protein unfolding mechanics has not been well studied. In this work, we have studied the effect of loading-device stiffness on the kinetics of both bond rupture and protein unfolding mechanics using Brownian dynamics simulations. It is shown that bond rupture forces are dependent on not only loading rate but also the stiffness of loading device, and that protein unfolding mechanics is highly correlated with the stiffness of loading device. Our study sheds light on the importance of loading device effect on the mechanically induced bond ruptures and protein unfolding.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 025102 |
| Journal | Journal of Chemical Physics |
| Volume | 137 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2012 Jul 14 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported by National Research Foundation of Korea under Grant No. NRF-2010-0026223 (to K.E.), and Grant No. 2011-0007272, 2011-0029477, 2012-0000785 (to S.N.), as well as Korea University Grant (to G.Y. and S.N).
Copyright:
Copyright 2012 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Physics and Astronomy
- Physical and Theoretical Chemistry