Related papers: Unfolding times for proteins in a force clamp
Complex or hostile environments can sometimes inhibit the movement capabilities of diffusive particles or active swimmers, who may thus become stuck in fixed positions. This occurs, for example, in the adhesion of bacteria to surfaces at…
Single-molecule force spectroscopy experiments, as well as a number of other physical systems, are governed by thermally activated transitions out of a metastable state under the action of a steadily increasing external force. The main…
We propose a general theory to describe the distribution of protein-folding transition paths. We show that transition paths follow a predictable sequence of high-free-energy transient states that are separated by free-energy barriers. Each…
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 microscopic theory of the free energy barriers and folding routes for minimally frustrated proteins is presented, greatly expanding on the presentation of the variational approach outlined previously [J. J. Portman, S. Takada, P. G.…
Brownian escape is key to a wealth of physico-chemical processes, including polymer folding, and information storage. The frequency of thermally activated energy barrier crossings is assumed to generally decrease exponentially with…
Most single-molecule studies derive the kinetic rates of native, intermediate, and unfolded states from equilibrium hopping experiments. Here, we apply Kramers kinetic diffusive model to derive the force-dependent kinetic rates of…
We theoretically study thermally activated elementary dynamical processes that precede full structural relaxation in ultra-dense particle liquids interacting via strong short range attractive forces. Our approach is based on a microscopic…
The analysis of single particle trajectories plays an important role in elucidating dynamics within complex environments such as those found in living cells. However, the characterization of intracellular particle motion is often confounded…
We use a free energy functional theory to elucidate general properties of heterogeneously ordering, fast folding proteins, and we test our conclusions with lattice simulations. We find that both structural and energetic heterogeneity can…
We numerically investigate the mean exit time of an inertial active Brownian particle from a circular cavity with single or multiple exit windows. Our simulation results witness distinct escape mechanisms depending upon the relative…
We study the elastic properties of a single A/B copolymer chain with a specific sequence. We predict a rich structure in the force extension relations which can be addressed to the sequence. The variational method is introduced to probe…
Elastic systems, such as magnetic domain walls, density waves, contact lines, and cracks, are all pinned by substrate disorder. When driven, they move via successive jumps called avalanches, with power law distributions of size, duration…
Single-file diffusion is a ubiquitous physical process exploited by living and synthetic systems to exchange molecules with their environment. It is paramount quantifying the escape time needed for single files of particles to exit from…
We investigate the dependence of the displacements of a molecular motor embedded inside a glassy material on its folding characteristic time. We observe two different time regimes. For slow foldings (regime I) the diffusion evolves very…
We analyze the escape of Brownian particles over potential barriers using the Fokker-Planck equation in a similar way to that of Chandrasekhar (Rev. Modern Phys., 1943), deriving a formula for the particle deposition velocity to a surface…
We explain the physical basis of a model for small globular proteins with water interactions. The water is supposed to access the protein interior in an "all-or-none" manner during the unfolding of the protein chain. As a consequence of…
We present a method to investigate the kinetics of protein folding on a long time-scale and the dynamics underlying the formation of secondary and tertiary structures during the entire reaction. The approach is based on the formal analogy…
This paper considers the narrow escape problem of a Brownian particle within a three-dimensional Riemannian manifold under the influence of the force field. We compute an asymptotic expansion of mean sojourn time for Brownian particles. As…
The thermal decay of linear chains from a metastable state is investigated. A crossover from rigid to elastic decay occurs when the number of particles, the single particle energy barrier or the coupling strength between the particles is…