Cited by 179Protein Structure and DynamicsAdvanced Fluorescence Microscopy TechniquesForce Microscopy Techniques and Applications

Single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy maps the folding landscape of a large protein

Open access
Pirchi, Menahem, Ziv, Guy, Riven, Inbal, Cohen, Sharona Sedghani, Zohar, Nir, Barak, Yoav, Haran, Gilad·2011·Nature Communications

Abstract

Proteins attain their function only after folding into a highly organized three-dimensional structure. Much remains to be learned about the mechanisms of folding of large multidomain proteins, which may populate metastable intermediate states on their energy landscapes. Here we introduce a novel method, based on high-throughput single-molecule fluorescence experiments, which is specifically geared towards tracing the dynamics of folding in the presence of a plethora of intermediates. We employ this method to characterize the folding reaction of a three-domain protein, adenylate kinase. Using thousands of single-molecule trajectories and hidden Markov modelling, we identify six metastable states on adenylate kinase's folding landscape. Remarkably, the connectivity of the intermediates depends on denaturant concentration; at low concentration, multiple intersecting folding pathways co-exist. We anticipate that the methodology introduced here will find broad applicability in the study of folding of large proteins, and will provide a more realistic scenario of their conformational dynamics.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/ncomms1504

Cites

47 of 47 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • A detailed six-state model of the folding/unfolding kinetics of adeylate kinase was constructed from a large quantity of single-molecule FRET data, permitting the application of transition path theory for the analysis of folding pathways.

    “A detailed six-state model of the folding/unfolding kinetics of adeylate kinase was constructed from a large quantity of single-molecule FRET data, permitting the application of transition path theory for the analysis of folding pathways [75].”

    From Markov state models of biomolecular conformational dynamics (2014) · cites this paper as [75]

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [17]Schuler B Haran G Vogel H Rigler R Single Molecules and Nanotechnology (Springer Series in Biophysics) 181 216 Springer 2007

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Pirchi, M., Ziv, G., Riven, I., Cohen, S. S., Zohar, N., Barak, Y., & Haran, G.
Affiliations
  • Weizmann Institute of Science (IL)
  • Princeton University (US)
Corresponding author
Haran, Gilad
Venue
Nature Communications
Published
2011-10-11
Volume
2
Issue
1
Pages
493-493
ISSN
2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2145920789
Cited by
179
References
47
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 9
FWCI
5.33
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Communications (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Weizmann Institute of Science
  • Tel Aviv University
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R01GM080515)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protein Structure and Dynamics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Biophysics › Advanced Fluorescence Microscopy Techniques
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications
Keywords
protein folding, folding intermediates, metastable states, folding energy landscape, adenylate kinase, multidomain proteins, single-molecule FRET, hidden Markov models, folding pathways, denaturant concentration, conformational dynamics
MeSH terms
Algorithms, Markov Chains, Proteins, Spectrometry, Fluorescence, Protein Folding

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review