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Photo of Anders Irbäck

Anders Irbäck

Professor

Photo of Anders Irbäck

Thermodynamics of α- and β-structure formation in proteins

Author

  • Anders Irbäck
  • Björn Samuelsson
  • Fredrik Sjunnesson
  • Stefan Wallin

Summary, in English

An atomic protein model with a minimalistic potential is developed and then tested on an α-helix and a β-hairpin, using exactly the same parameters for both peptides. We find that melting curves for these sequences to a good approximation can be described by a simple two-state model, with parameters that are in reasonable quantitative agreement with experimental data. Despite the apparent two-state character of the melting curves, the energy distributions are found to lack a clear bimodal shape, which is discussed in some detail. We also perform a Monte Carlo-based kinetic study and find, in accord with experimental data, that the α-helix forms faster than the β-hairpin.

Department/s

  • Computational Biology and Biological Physics - Undergoing reorganization

Publishing year

2003

Language

English

Pages

1466-1473

Publication/Series

Biophysical Journal

Volume

85

Issue

3

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Cell Press

Topic

  • Biophysics

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1542-0086