The thermodynamics of ferric and ferrous haem affinity of a de novo designed four-alpha-helix bundle protein and the associated haem electrochemistry is described.

Although protein folding and stability have been well explored under simplified conditions in vitro, it is yet unclear how these basic self-organization events are modulated by the crowded interior of live cells. To find out, we use here in-cell NMR to follow at atomic resolution the thermal unfolding of a β-barrel protein inside mammalian and bacterial cells. Challenging the view from in vitro...

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Proteins are important macromolecules that exhibit thermodynamic and kinetic properties that are highly tuned to facilitate biological function within limited ranges of environmental conditions. Despite having a wealth of understanding of the interactions that affect protein stability [Dill, 1990; Pace, et al. 2004], such as the hydrophobic effect, hydrogen bonding, packing, solvation and elect...

Until quite recently it has been generally believed that the observed tertiary structure of a protein is controlled by thermodynamic and not kinetic processes. In this essay we review several recent results which call into question the universality of the thermodynamic hypothesis and discuss their implications for the understanding of protein folding.

Statistical thermodynamics provides a powerful theoretical framework for analyzing, understanding and predicting the conformational properties of biomolecules. The central quantity is the potential of mean force or effective energy as a function of conformation, which consists of the intramolecular energy and the solvation free energy. The intramolecular energy can be reasonably described by mo...

Description of the recognition specificity between proteins and nucleic acids at the level of molecular interactions is one of the most challenging tasks in biophysics. It is key to understanding the course and control of gene expression and to the application of the thus acquired knowledge in chemotherapy. This review presents experimental results of thermodynamic studies and a discussion of t...

Highly wedge-shaped integral membrane proteins, or membrane-adsorbed proteins can induce long-ranged deformations. The strain in the surrounding bilayer creates relatively long-ranged forces that contribute to interactions with nearby proteins. In contrast, to direct short-ranged interactions such as van der Waal's, hydrophobic, or electrostatic interactions, both local membrane Gaussian curvat...