Article abstract
Nature Methods 6, 515 - 519 (2009)
Published online: 31 May 2009 | doi:10.1038/nmeth.1336
Reaching the protein folding speed limit with large, sub-microsecond pressure jumps
Charles Dumont1, Tryggvi Emilsson2 & Martin Gruebele1,2,3
Abstract
Biomolecules are highly pressure-sensitive, but their dynamics upon return to ambient pressure are often too fast to observe with existing approaches. We describe a sample-efficient method capable of large and very fast pressure drops (<1 nanomole, >2,500 atmospheres and <0.7 microseconds). We validated the method by fluorescence-detected refolding of a genetically engineered lambda repressor mutant from its pressure-denatured state. We resolved barrierless structure formation upon return to ambient pressure; we observed a 2.1 
0.7 microsecond refolding time, which is very close to the 'speed limit' for proteins and much faster than the corresponding temperature-jump refolding of the same protein. The ability to experimentally perform a large and very fast pressure drop opens up a new region of the biomolecular energy landscape for atomic-level simulation.
- Department of Physics, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, USA.
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, USA.
- Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, USA.
Correspondence to: Martin Gruebele1,2,3 e-mail: gruebele@scs.uiuc.edu
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
NEWS AND VIEWS
Downhill protein folding under pressureNature Methods News and Views (01 Jul 2009)
Polypeptides: The Missing MagnitudesNature News and Views (25 May 1973)
RESEARCH
Reversible movement of switch 1 loop of myosin determines actin interactionThe EMBO Journal Article (10 Jan 2007)
Folding at the speed limitNature Letters to Editor (08 May 2003)
Transient non-native secondary structures during the refolding of α-lactalbumin detected by infrared spectroscopyNature Structural Biology Article (01 Jan 2000)
