Physical Society Colloquium

Manipulating the protein energy landscape

Susan Marqusee

Department of Molecular & Cell Biology
UC Berkeley

Decoding the information in the primary sequence of a protein is one of the most fundamental challenges in modern biology. A protein's sequence encodes more than just its three-dimensional native structure; it encodes the entire energy landscape - an ensemble of conformations whose energetics and dynamics are finely tuned. I will present recent results in my lab aimed at probing the high-energy fluctuations on the energy landscape using a combination of single molecule and ensemble-based studies. In particular, I will cover some of our recent developments in single molecule mechanical manipulation, hydrogen exchange and thiol exchange techniques that have allowed us to identify and monitor novel events on the conformational landscape.