Microscopic Mechanism for Cold Denaturation

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© 2008 American Physical Society (APS). http://www.aps.org/

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Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

School of Science | A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä

Date

2008

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Mcode

Degree programme

Language

en

Pages

118101/1-4

Series

Physical Review Letters, Volume 100, Issue 11

Abstract

We elucidate the mechanism of cold denaturation through constant-pressure simulations for a model of hydrophobic molecules in an explicit solvent. We find that the temperature dependence of the hydrophobic effect induces, facilitates, and is the driving force for cold denaturation. The physical mechanism underlying this phenomenon is identified as the destabilization of hydrophobic contact in favor of solvent-separated configurations, the same mechanism seen in pressure-induced denaturation. A phenomenological explanation proposed for the mechanism is suggested as being responsible for cold denaturation in real proteins.

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Keywords

proteins, protein unfolding, denaturation

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Citation

Dias, Cristiano L. & Ala-Nissilä, Tapio & Karttunen, Mikko & Vattulainen, Ilpo & Grant, Martin. 2008. Microscopic Mechanism for Cold Denaturation. Physical Review Letters. Volume 100, Issue 11. P. 118101/1-4. ISSN 0031-9007 (printed). DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.100.118101.