Single-molecule pulling: phenomenology and interpretation

TL;DR

This paper reviews single-molecule pulling techniques, discussing their phenomenology, statistical interpretation, and simulation methods to understand macromolecular forces at the single-molecule level.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the phenomenology, a statistical mechanical framework, and simulation approaches for single-molecule pulling experiments.

Findings

Summarizes typical phenomenological observations.

Introduces a statistical mechanical interpretation framework.

Demonstrates molecular dynamics simulation of pulling experiments.

Abstract

Single-molecule pulling techniques have emerged as versatile tools for probing the noncovalent forces holding together the secondary and tertiary structure of macromolecules. They also constitute a way to study at the single-molecule level processes that are familiar from our macroscopic thermodynamic experience. In this Chapter, we summarize the essential phenomenology that is typically observed during single-molecule pulling, provide a general statistical mechanical framework for the interpretation of the equilibrium force spectroscopy and illustrate how to simulate single-molecule pulling experiments using molecular dynamics.