| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1956558 | Biophysical Journal | 2006 | 9 Pages |
Abstract
Nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations were used to calculate the elastic properties of a spectrin repeat unit. A contiguous α-helical linker was constructed by employing periodic boundary conditions, allowing a novel scheme for evaluating the thermodynamic force as a function of extension. By measuring the force-extension response under small extensions, spectrin was observed to behave primarily as an elastic material with a spring constant of 1700 ± 100 pN/nm. The implications of this spring constant, in terms of the properties of the spectrin tetramer, are also discussed.
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Authors
Sterling Paramore, Gary S. Ayton, Dina T. Mirijanian, Gregory A. Voth,