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Mechanisms of protein folding

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Abstract

Understanding the mechanism by which a polypeptide chain folds into its native structure is a central problem of modern biophysics. The collaborative efforts of experimental and theoretical studies recently raised the tantalizing possibility to define a unifying mechanism for protein folding. In this review we summarize some of these intriguing advances and analyze them together with a discussion on the new findings concerning the so-called downhill folding.

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Abbreviations

TS:

Transition state

DC:

Diffusion–collision

NC:

Nucleation–condensation

En-HD:

Engrailed homeodomain

CI2:

Chymotrypsin inhibitor 2

VHP:

Chicken villin headpiece

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Acknowledgments

Y.I. is supported by a grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundations (Sweden). Work partly supported by grants from the Italian Ministero dell’Istruzione dell’Università e della Ricerca (RBIN04PWNC to M.B. and 2005027330_005 to C.T.A.) and from Sapienza Università di Roma (C26A06AFEK to M.B.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto di Biologia e Patologia Molecolari del CNR, Dipartimento di Scienze Biochimiche “A. Rossi Fanelli”, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, Piazzale A. Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Ylva Ivarsson, Carlo Travaglini-Allocatelli, Maurizio Brunori & Stefano Gianni

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  1. Ylva Ivarsson
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  2. Carlo Travaglini-Allocatelli
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  3. Maurizio Brunori
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  4. Stefano Gianni
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Correspondence to Stefano Gianni.

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Ivarsson, Y., Travaglini-Allocatelli, C., Brunori, M. et al. Mechanisms of protein folding. Eur Biophys J 37, 721–728 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00249-007-0256-x

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