title: Directed transport as a mechanism for protein folding in vivo.
abstract: We propose a model for protein folding in vivo based on a Brownian ratchet mechanism in the multidimensional energy landscape space. The device is able to produce directed transport taking advantage of the assumed intrinsic asymmetric properties of the proteins and employing the consumption of energy provided by an external source. Through such a directed transport phenomenon, the polypeptide finds the native state starting from any initial state in the energy landscape with great efficacy and robustness, even in the presence of different types of obstacles. This model solves Levinthal's paradox without requiring biased transition probabilities but at the expense of opening the system to an external field.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, 09340 Mexico, D.F., Mexico. egonzaca@banxico.org.mx
authors.forename: Ernesto
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: González-Candela
authors.forename: Víctor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Romero-Rochín
mesh_terms: D008956:Models, Chemical; D009038:Motion; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017510:Protein Folding; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins