Pierse Christopher A, Dudko Olga K
Department of Physics, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA.
Phys Rev Lett. 2017 Feb 24;118(8):088101. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.088101. Epub 2017 Feb 21.
The folding and binding of biomolecules into functional conformations are thought to be commonly mediated by multiple pathways rather than a unique route. Yet even in experiments where one can "see" individual conformational transitions, their stochastic nature generally precludes one from determining whether the transitions occurred through one or multiple pathways. We establish model-free, observable signatures in the response of macromolecules to force that unambiguously identify multiple pathways-even when the pathways themselves cannot be resolved. The unified analytical description reveals that, through multiple pathways, the response of molecules to external forces can be shaped in diverse ways, resulting in a rich design space for a tailored biological function already at the single-molecule level.
生物分子折叠并结合为功能构象通常被认为是由多种途径介导的，而非单一途径。然而，即使在能够“观察”到单个构象转变的实验中，其随机性通常也使人们无法确定这些转变是通过一条还是多条途径发生的。我们在大分子对力的响应中建立了无模型的、可观测的特征，这些特征能够明确识别多种途径——即使这些途径本身无法分辨。统一的分析描述表明，通过多种途径，分子对外力的响应能够以多种方式形成，从而在单分子水平上就为定制生物功能提供了丰富的设计空间。
