| Issue |
EPL
Volume 82, Number 5, June 2008
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 58006 | |
| Number of page(s) | 5 | |
| Section | Interdisciplinary Physics and Related Areas of Science and Technology | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/82/58006 | |
| Published online | 29 May 2008 | |
Reconstructing the free-energy landscape of a polyprotein by single-molecule experiments
1
Dipartimento di Fisica and CNISM, Politecnico di Torino - c. Duca degli Abruzzi 24, Torino, Italy, EU
2
INFN, Sezione di Torino - Torino, Italy, EU
3
CSDC-Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Firenze - via Sansone, 1, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy, EU
4
Istituto Sistemi Complessi, CNR - via Madonna del Piano 10, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy, EU
Received:
21
December
2007
Accepted:
17
April
2008
The mechanical unfolding of an engineered protein composed of eight domains of Ig27 is investigated by using atomic force microscopy. Exploiting a fluctuation relation, the equilibrium free energy as a function of the molecule elongation is estimated from pulling experiments. Such a free energy exhibits a regular shape that sets a typical unfolding length at zero force of the order of 20 nm. This length scale turns out to be much larger than the kinetic-unfolding length that is also estimated by analyzing the typical rupture force of the molecule under dynamic loading.
PACS: 82.37.Rs – Single molecule manipulation of proteins and other biological molecules / 87.15.La – Mechanical properties / 05.70.Ln – Nonequilibrium and irreversible thermodynamics
© EPLA, 2008
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