Affiliation:
1. Dipartimento di Scienze dell’ Ingegneria Civile e Architettura, Politecnico di Bari, Bari, Italy
2. Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Università degli Studi di Perugia, Perugia, Italy
Abstract
We propose a simple approach, based on the minimization of the total (entropic plus unfolding) energy of a two-state system, to describe the unfolding of multi-domain macromolecules (proteins, silks, polysaccharides, nanopolymers). The model is fully analytical and enlightens the role of the different energetic components regulating the unfolding evolution. As an explicit example, we compare the analytical results with a titin atomic force microscopy stretch-induced unfolding experiment showing the ability of the model to quantitatively reproduce the experimental behaviour. In the thermodynamic limit, the sawtooth force–elongation unfolding curve degenerates to a constant force unfolding plateau.
Subject
Biomedical Engineering,Biochemistry,Biomaterials,Bioengineering,Biophysics,Biotechnology
Cited by
35 articles.
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