title: Probing molecular free energy landscapes by periodic loading.
abstract: Single molecule pulling experiments provide information about interactions in biomolecules that cannot be obtained by any other method. However, the reconstruction of the molecule's free energy profile from the experimental data is still a challenge, in particular, for the unstable barrier regions. We propose a new method for obtaining the full profile by introducing a periodic ramp and using Jarzynski's relation for obtaining equilibrium quantities from nonequilibrium data. Our simulated experiments show that this method delivers significant more accurate data than previous methods, under the constraint of equal experimental effort.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Stuttgart, 70550 Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hanke
authors.forename: Udo
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Seifert
mesh_terms: D001436:Bacteriorhodopsins / Q000737:chemistry; D001704:Biopolymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D064211:Connectin; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry; D008954:Models, Biological; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D009124:Muscle Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000737:chemistry; D017510:Protein Folding; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000737:chemistry; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D001704:Biopolymers; D064211:Connectin; D009124:Muscle Proteins; D011134:Polysaccharides; D001436:Bacteriorhodopsins; D012313:RNA; D004247:DNA; D011494:Protein Kinases