# Modelling the unfolding pathway of biomolecules: theoretical approach and experimental prospect

## TL;DR

This paper presents a theoretical model for the unfolding pathway of biomolecules under pulling experiments, introduces a variant closer to experimental setups, and proposes an experiment to validate the model's predictions.

## Contribution

The paper develops a modified model for biomolecule unfolding that incorporates experimental conditions and analyzes the robustness of the critical velocity prediction.

## Key findings

- Critical velocity $v_c$ determines unfolding order in biomolecules.
- Model robustness to parameter variations is analyzed.
- Proposes feasible experiments to test theoretical predictions.

## Abstract

We analyse the unfolding pathway of biomolecules comprising several independent modules in pulling experiments. In a recently proposed model, a critical velocity $v_{c}$ has been predicted, such that for pulling speeds $v>v_{c}$ it is the module at the pulled end that opens first, whereas for $v<v_{c}$ it is the weakest. Here, we introduce a variant of the model that is closer to the experimental setup, and discuss the robustness of the emergence of the critical velocity and of its dependence on the model parameters. We also propose a possible experiment to test the theoretical predictions of the model, which seems feasible with state-of-art molecular engineering techniques.