A transformation for the mechanical fingerprints of complex biomolecular interactions.

ABSTRACT: Biological processes are carried out through molecular conformational transitions, ranging from the structural changes within biomolecules to the formation of macromolecular complexes and the associations between the complexes themselves. These transitions cover a vast range of timescales and are governed by a tangled network of molecular interactions. The resulting hierarchy of interactions, in turn, becomes encoded in the experimentally measurable "mechanical fingerprints" of the biomolecules, their force-extension curves. However, how can we decode these fingerprints so that they reveal the kinetic barriers and the associated timescales of a biological process? Here, we show that this can be accomplished with a simple, model-free transformation that is general enough to be applicable to

SUBMITTER: Zhang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3799329 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature