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 identity for obtaining equilibrium quantities from non-equilibrium data. Our simulated experiments show that this method delivers significant more accurate data than previous methods, under the constraint of equal experimental effort.

4 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (2)

• DNA unzipped under a constant force exhibits multiple metastable intermediates
• Probing complex RNA structures by mechanical force

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