School of Computational Sciences, Korea Institute for Advanced Study, Seoul, Korea.
Biophys J. 2012 Feb 8;102(3):L11-3. doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2012.01.003. Epub 2012 Feb 7.
We show that the folding rates (k(F)s) of RNA are determined by N, the number of nucleotides. By assuming that the distribution of free-energy barriers separating the folded and the unfolded states is Gaussian, which follows from central limit theorem arguments and polymer physics concepts, we show that k(F)≈k(0)exp(-αN(0.5)). Remarkably, the theory fits experimental rates spanning over 7 orders of magnitude with k(0)~1.0(μs)(-1). Our finding suggests that the speed limit of RNA folding is ~ 1 μs, [corrected] just as it is in the folding of globular proteins.
我们表明,RNA 的折叠速率(k(F))取决于核苷酸的数量 N。通过假设折叠态和未折叠态之间的自由能势垒分布是高斯分布,这是由中心极限定理和高分子物理概念得出的,我们表明 k(F)≈k(0)exp(-αN(0.5))。值得注意的是,该理论适用于跨越 7 个数量级的实验速率,其中 k(0)~1.0(μs)(-1)。我们的发现表明,RNA 折叠的速度限制约为 1 μs,[更正]就像球状蛋白质的折叠一样。