Submillisecond kinetics of protein folding.
New experimental methods permit observation of protein folding and unfolding on the previously inaccessible nanosecond-microsecond timescale. These studies are beginning to establish times for the elementary motions in protein folding - secondary structure and loop formation, local hydrophobic collapse, and global collapse to the compact denatured state. They permit an estimate of about one microsecond for the shortest time in which a protein can possibly fold.
Eaton
W A
WA
Laboratory of Chemical Physics, Building 5, National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-0520, USA. eaton@helix.nih.gov
Muñoz
V
V
Thompson
P A
PA
Chan
C K
CK
Hofrichter
J
J
D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D017510:Protein Folding; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary