Enhanced statistical sampling reveals microscopic complexity in the talin mechanosensor folding energy landscape.

ABSTRACT: Statistical mechanics can describe the major conformational ensembles determining the equilibrium free-energy landscape of a folding protein. The challenge is to capture the full repertoire of low-occurrence conformations separated by high kinetic barriers that define complex landscapes. Computationally, enhanced sampling methods accelerate the exploration of molecular rare events. However, accessing the entire protein's conformational space in equilibrium experiments requires technological developments to enable extended observation times. We developed single-molecule magnetic tweezers to capture over a million individual transitions as a single talin protein unfolds and refolds under force in equilibrium. When observed at classically-probed timescales, talin folds in an apparently uncomp

SUBMITTER: Tapia-Rojo R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7614079 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature