title: [Mechanical properties of globular proteins].
abstract: The purpose of this paper is to present a new approach to the study of mechanical properties of globular proteins and to summarize some of our results. The approach is based on the analysis of mechanical, viscoelastic properties of a protein monocrystal which is used as a probe of mechanical properties of a protein molecule. As a first rough approximation a protein molecule can be considered as a material resembling molecular crystals and glass-like polymers with the Young's modulus E = 2 - 10 GN . m-2. More detailed information concerning the anisotropy of elasticity and that of inhibitor effect strongly suggests that the lysozyme molecule is a construction having a special hinge-bending degree of freedom. The force constant estimated from our data for this degree of freedom is (0,4-1) . 10(13) erg . rad-2 . mol-1.
mesh_terms: D004548:Elasticity; D008961:Models, Structural; D009113:Muramidase; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011506:Proteins; D014783:Viscosity
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; D009113:Muramidase
vernacular_title: Mekhanicheskie svoĭstva globuliarnykh belkov.