title: Mesoscopic model for mechanical characterization of biological protein materials.
abstract: Mechanical characterization of protein molecules has played a role on gaining insight into the biological functions of proteins, because some proteins perform the mechanical function. Here, we present the mesoscopic model of biological protein materials composed of protein crystals prescribed by Go potential for characterization of elastic behavior of protein materials. Specifically, we consider the representative volume element (RVE) containing the protein crystals represented by C(alpha) atoms, prescribed by Go potential, with application of constant normal strain to RVE. The stress-strain relationship computed from virial stress theory provides the nonlinear elastic behavior of protein materials and their mechanical properties such as Young's modulus, quantitatively and/or qualitatively comparable with mechanical properties of biological protein materials obtained from experiments and/or atomistic simulations. Further, we discuss the role of native topology on the mechanical properties of protein crystals. It is shown that parallel strands (hydrogen bonds in parallel) enhance the mechanical resilience of protein materials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 136-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Gwonchan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Hyeong-Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Sungsoo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Na
authors.forename: Kilho
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Eom
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D004548:Elasticity; D008958:Models, Molecular; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins