Collective motions and structural self-organisation along the myoglobin folding pathway

• We develop a highly predictive energy function to describe the low temperature crystallographic structure of myoglobin with sub-\AA ngstr\"om precision. We use the energy function to investigate the way how myoglobin folds.For this we employ the Glauber protocol, with a variable ambient temperature. We first increase the temperature so that the structure unfolds into a random coil. We then lower thetemperature back to its original value, and monitor how the myoglobin folds towards its native state.We find that the folding proceeds by $\alpha$-helix nucleation, and that the ordering of helix formation parallels experimental observations. There is also a molten globule folding intermediate, with a radius of gyration that matches the experimentally measured value. We estimate the relative folding times between a random chain and molten globule, and between molten globule and the native state, and we find that the ratio is consistentwith the experimentally measured values. We also propose a number of novel experimental characteristics that could be measured in future experiments.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Biofysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Biophysics (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

ovr (subject category)