Related papers: Detecting molecular folding from noise measurement…
Small single-domain proteins often exhibit only a single free-energy barrier, or transition state, between the denatured and the native state. The folding kinetics of these proteins is usually explored via mutational analysis. A central…
We consider reversible breaking of adhesion bonds or folding of proteins under the influence of a constant external force. We discuss the stochastic properties of the unbinding/rebinding events and analyze their mean number and their…
The structure of the self-cleaving hairpin ribozyme is well characterized, and its folding has been examined in bulk and by single-molecule fluorescence, establishing the importance of cations, especially magnesium in the stability of the…
Single molecule force spectroscopy methods can be used to generate folding trajectories of biopolymers from arbitrary regions of the folding landscape. We illustrate the complexity of the folding kinetics and generic aspects of the collapse…
Dynamics of a single stranded DNA, which can form a hairpin have been studied in the constant force ensemble. Using Langevin dynamics simulations, we obtained the force-temperature diagram, which differs from the theoretical prediction…
Even in the steady-state, the number of biomolecules in living cells fluctuates dynamically; and the frequency spectrum of this chemical fluctuation carries valuable information about the mechanism and the dynamics of the intracellular…
Understanding the protein folding process is an outstanding issue in biophysics; recent developments in molecular dynamics simulation have provided insights into this phenomenon. However, the large freedom of atomic motion hinders the…
We report studies of the equilibrium and the dynamics of a general set of lattice models which capture the essence of the force-induced or mechanical DNA unzipping transition. Besides yielding the whole equilibrium phase diagram in the…
Single-molecule pulling experiments on unstructured proteins linked to neurodegenerative diseases have measured rupture forces comparable to those for stable folded proteins. To investigate the structural mechanisms of this unexpected force…
We study the electrical conductance $G$ and the thermopower $S$ of single-molecule junctions, and reveal signatures of different transport mechanisms: off-resonant tunneling, on-resonant coherent (ballistic) motion, and multi-step hopping.…
The description of nonequilibrium processes in nano-sized objects, where the typical energies involved are a few times, is increasingly becoming central to disciplines as diverse as condensed-matter physics, materials science, and…
Molecular simulations of the forced unfolding and refolding of biomolecules or molecular complexes allow to gain important kinetic, structural and thermodynamic information about the folding process and the underlying energy landscape. In…
The motion involved in barrier crossing for protein folding are investigated in terms of the chain dynamics of the polymer backbone, completing the microscopic description of protein folding presented in the previous paper. Local reaction…
We assume that the protein folding process follows two autonomous steps: the conformational search for the native, mainly ruled by the hydrophobic effect; and, the final adjustment stage, which eventually gives stability to the native. Our…
Natural protein sequences contain a record of their history. A common constraint in a given protein family is the ability to fold to specific structures, and it has been shown possible to infer the main native ensemble by analyzing…
An Ising--like model of proteins is used to investigate the mechanical unfolding of the Green Fluorescent Protein along different directions. When the protein is pulled from its ends, we recover the major and minor unfolding pathways…
We adopt the point of view that analysis of the stability of the protein folding process is central to understanding the underlying physics of folding. Stability of the folding process means that many perturbations do not disrupt the…
Background: The secondary structure and complexity of mRNA influences its accessibility to regulatory molecules (proteins, micro-RNAs), its stability and its level of expression. The mobile elements of the RNA sequence, the wobble bases,…
The probability distribution of sequences with maximum entropy that satisfies a given amino acid composition at each site and a given pairwise amino acid frequency at each site pair is a Boltzmann distribution with $\exp(-\psi_N)$, where…
The Brownian motion of microscopic particles is driven by the collisions with the molecules of the surrounding fluid. The noise associated with these collisions is not white, but coloured due, e.g., to the presence of hydrodynamic memory.…