(356o) The Phase Diagram of a Biomimetic Polymer during Force Spectroscopy

The goal of our work is in clarifying the generic behavior of proteins in force spectroscopy; in other words, what general signatures does an arbitrary protein exhibit as a function of the applied force? By employing a biomimetic polymer in molecular simulations, we foremost evaluated its respective activation energy for unfolding at the coexistence temperature [1]. Above all, we found that in the vicinity of the force-free scenario, this activation energy possesses a negative slope and a negative curvature as a function of the applied force: We presented an analytical expression which experimentalists can use for approximating the activation energy for unfolding. We are currently exploring the phase diagram of this biomimetic polymer across the temperature space. In summary, our work presents an interesting view for protein folding in force spectroscopy.

[1] Aviel Chaimovich, Christian Leitold, Christoph Dellago (SM 2020).