TY - GEN
T1 - Asymptotic strength limit of hydrogen bond assemblies in proteins at vanishing pulling rates
AU - Keten, Sinan
AU - Buehler, Markus J.
PY - 2008
Y1 - 2008
N2 - Experimental and computational studies on mechanical unfolding of proteins suggest that rupture forces approach a limiting value of a few hundred pN at vanishing pulling velocities. We develop a fracture mechanics based theoretical framework that considers the free energy competition between entropic elasticity of polypeptide chains and rupture of peptide hydrogen bonds, which we use here to provide an explanation for the intrinsic strength limit of proteins. Our analysis predicts that individual protein domains stabilized by hydrogen bonds can not exhibit rupture forces larger than ≈ 200 pN, regardless of the presence of a large number of hydrogen bonds. This result explains a wide range of experimental and computational observations.
AB - Experimental and computational studies on mechanical unfolding of proteins suggest that rupture forces approach a limiting value of a few hundred pN at vanishing pulling velocities. We develop a fracture mechanics based theoretical framework that considers the free energy competition between entropic elasticity of polypeptide chains and rupture of peptide hydrogen bonds, which we use here to provide an explanation for the intrinsic strength limit of proteins. Our analysis predicts that individual protein domains stabilized by hydrogen bonds can not exhibit rupture forces larger than ≈ 200 pN, regardless of the presence of a large number of hydrogen bonds. This result explains a wide range of experimental and computational observations.
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M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:57749107634
SN - 9781605604152
T3 - Society for Experimental Mechanics - 11th International Congress and Exhibition on Experimental and Applied Mechanics 2008
SP - 433
EP - 438
BT - Society for Experimental Mechanics - 11th International Congress and Exhibition on Experimental and Applied Mechanics 2008
T2 - 11th International Congress and Exhibition on Experimental and Applied Mechanics 2008
Y2 - 2 June 2008 through 5 June 2008
ER -