Related papers: Downhill versus two-state protein folding in a sta…
We study the thermodynamical properties of a topology-based model proposed by Galzitskaya and Finkelstein for the description of protein folding. We devise and test three different mean-field approaches for the model, that simplify the…
Neither of the two prevalent theories, namely thermodynamic stability and kinetic stability, provides a comprehensive understanding of protein folding. The thermodynamic theory is misleading because it assumes that free energy is the…
The mechanical unfolding of proteins is investigated by extending the Wako-Saito-Munoz-Eaton model, a simplified protein model with binary degrees of freedom, which has proved successful in describing the kinetics of protein folding. Such a…
We present a solvable model that predicts the folding kinetics of two-state proteins from their native structures. The model is based on conditional chain entropies. It assumes that folding processes are dominated by small-loop closure…
A reduced model, which can fold both helix and sheet structures, is proposed to study the problem of protein folding. The goal of this model is to find an unbiased effective potential that has included the effects of water and at the same…
We investigate the sequence-dependent properties of proteins that determine the dual requirements of stability of the native state and its kinetic accessibility using simple cubic lattice models. Three interaction schemes are used to…
Protein folding is the intricate process by which a linear sequence of amino acids self-assembles into a unique three-dimensional structure. Protein folding kinetics is the study of pathways and time-dependent mechanisms a protein undergoes…
In this letter, the possible dynamic scaling properties of protein molecules in folding are investigated theoretically by assuming that the protein molecules are percolated networks. It is shown that the fractal character and the fractal…
How proteins fold remains a central unsolved problem in biology. While the idea of a folding code embedded in the amino acid sequence was introduced more than 6 decades ago, this code remains undefined. While we now have powerful predictive…
I compute exact partition function zeros of the Wako-Saito-Mu\~noz-Eaton model for various secondary structural elements and for two proteins, 1BBL and 1I6C, using both analytic and numerical methods. Two-state and barrierless downhill…
Two proteins, one belonging to the mainly alpha class and the other belonging to the alpha/beta class, are selected to test a kinetic mechanism for protein folding. Targeted molecular dynamics is applied to generate folding pathways for…
To what extent do general features of folding/unfolding kinetics of small globular proteins follow from their thermodynamic properties? To address this question, we investigate a new simplifed protein chain model that embodies a cooperative…
An all-atom model of proteins is used to show that the same sequence of amino acids can have many alternative structures, that are very distant from, and that can be as stable as, the corresponding native structure. Such alternative…
In spite of decades of research, much remains to be discovered about folding: the detailed structure of the initial (unfolded) state, vestigial folding instructions remaining only in the unfolded state, the interaction of the molecule with…
A general theoretical framework is developed using free energy functional methods to understand the effects of heterogeneity in the folding of a well-designed protein. Native energetic heterogeneity arising from non-uniformity in native…
We solve a model that takes into account entropic barriers, frustration, and the organization of a protein-like molecule. For a chain of size $M$, there is an effective folding transition to an ordered structure. Without frustration, this…
Theory of multi-dimensional representation of free energy surface of protein folding is developed by adopting structural order parameters of multiple regions in protein as multiple coordinates. Various scenarios of folding are classified in…
We consider a simplified model of protein folding, with binary degrees of freedom, whose equilibrium thermodynamics is exactly solvable. Based on this exact solution, the kinetics is studied in the framework of a local equilibrium approach,…
We develop a theoretical approach to the protein folding problem based on out-of-equilibrium stochastic dynamics. Within this framework, the computational difficulties related to the existence of large time scale gaps in the protein folding…
We present a Monte Carlo study of a model protein with 54 amino acids that folds directly to its native three-helix-bundle state without forming any well-defined intermediate state. The free-energy barrier separating the native and unfolded…