Dependence of protein mechanical unfolding pathways on pulling speeds

TL;DR

This study investigates how the mechanical unfolding pathways of a specific protein depend on pulling speeds, revealing that pathways vary with loading rate and aligning with experimental data at low speeds.

Contribution

It demonstrates the dependence of protein unfolding pathways on pulling speeds and constructs the unfolding free energy landscape using force dependencies.

Findings

Unfolding pathways vary with pulling speed.

Agreement with experimental results at low loading rates.

Unfolding free energy landscape constructed.

Abstract

Mechanical unfolding of the fourth domain of Distyostelium discoideum filamin (DDFLN4) was studied in detail using the C$_{\alpha}$-Go model. We show that unfolding pathways of this protein depend on the pulling speed. The agreement between theoretical and experimental results on the sequencing of unfolding events is achieved at low loading rates. The unfolding free energy landscape is also constructed using dependencies of unfolding forces on pulling speeds.