Issue |
Europhys. Lett.
Volume 68, Number 4, November 2004
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 589 - 595 | |
Section | Interdisciplinary physics and related areas of science and technology | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i2004-10249-7 | |
Published online | 20 October 2004 |
A model for the accidental catalysis of protein unfolding in vivo
Department of Physics, University of Surrey - Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, UK
Corresponding author: r.sear@surrey.ac.uk
Received:
13
May
2004
Accepted:
28
September
2004
Activated processes such as protein unfolding are highly sensitive to heterogeneity in the environment. We study a highly simplified model of a protein in a random heterogeneous environment, a model of the in vivo environment. It is found that if the heterogeneity is sufficiently large, the total rate of the process is essentially a random variable; this may be the cause of the species-to-species variability in the rate of prion protein conversion found by Deleault et al. (Nature 425 (2003) 717).
PACS: 87.15.Nn – Properties of solutions; aggregation and crystallization of macromolecules / 87.14.Ee – Proteins / 87.15.He – Dynamics and conformational changes
© EDP Sciences, 2004
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