Drying-induced hydrophobic polymer collapse

被引:252
作者
ten Wolde, PR [1 ]
Chandler, D [1 ]
机构
[1] Univ Calif Berkeley, Dept Chem, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
基金
美国国家科学基金会;
关键词
D O I
10.1073/pnas.052153299
中图分类号
O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
We have used computer simulation to study the collapse of a hydrophobic chain in water. We find that the mechanism of collapse is much like that of a first-order phase transition. The evaporation of water in the vicinity of the polymer provides the driving force for collapse, and the rate limiting step is the nucleation of a sufficiently large vapor bubble. The study is made possible through the application of transition path sampling and a coarse-grained treatment of liquid water. Relevance of our findings to understanding the folding and assembly of proteins is discussed.
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页码:6539 / 6543
页数:5
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