Non-exponential kinetics of unfolding under a constant force
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Publication Date
2016-11-14Journal Title
The Journal of Chemical Physics
ISSN
0021-9606
Publisher
AIP Publishing
Volume
145
Issue
18
Number
185102
Language
English
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Metadata
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Bell, S., & Terentjev, E. (2016). Non-exponential kinetics of unfolding under a constant force. The Journal of Chemical Physics, 145 (18. 185102)https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4966922
Abstract
We examine the population dynamics of naturally folded globular polymers, with a super-hydrophobic "core" inserted at a prescribed point in the polymer chain, unfolding under an application of external force, as in AFM force-clamp spectroscopy. This acts as a crude model for a large class of folded biomolecules with hydrophobic or hydrogen-bonded cores. We find that the introduction of super-hydrophobic units leads to a stochastic variation in the unfolding rate, even when the positions of the added monomers are fixed. This leads to the average non-exponential population dynamics, which is consistent with a variety of experimental data and does not require any intrinsic quenched disorder that was traditionally thought to be at the origin of non-exponential relaxation laws.
Sponsorship
This work is supported by the EPSRC through a studentship award and the Critical Mass Grant for Cambridge Theoretical Condensed Matter EP/J017639.
Funder references
EPSRC (EP/J017639/1)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4966922
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/261803
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International, Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International, Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International, Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International