Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Extending a spectrin repeat unit. II: rupture behavior.

Sterling Paramore1, Gary S Ayton, Gregory A Voth

  • 1Center for Biophysical Modeling and Simulation and Department of Chemistry, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.

Biophysical Journal
|October 18, 2005
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Membrane Remodeling by the Collective Action of Caveolin-1.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2025
Same author

Bottom-up Coarse-Grained Models of Asymmetric Membranes.

The journal of physical chemistry. B·2025
Same author

Structural Heterogeneity of the Membrane-Interacting Region of the HIV-1 Envelope Glycoprotein.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2025
Same author

Lenacapavir-induced Lattice Hyperstabilization is Central to HIV-1 Capsid Failure at the Nuclear Pore Complex and in the Cytoplasm.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2025
Same author

Hydrated Protons at the Water-Air and Water-Oil Interfaces: Structure and Dynamics.

The journal of physical chemistry. B·2025
Same author

Adversarial training for dynamics matching in coarse-grained models.

The Journal of chemical physics·2025
Same journal

Tau protein differentially affects Piezo1 and Kir2.1 channels in brain capillary endothelial cells.

Biophysical journal·2026
Same journal

Emergent Intercellular Junction Stability during Cyclic Tissue Loading.

Biophysical journal·2026
Same journal

Enhanced-Sampling Simulations Reveal Distinct Intermediates in SARS-CoV-2 FSE Pseudoknot Interconversion.

Biophysical journal·2026
Same journal

Structure-based simulations of the full Flock House virus capsid reveal pathways and energetics of an infection-critical peptide externalization event.

Biophysical journal·2026
Same journal

Quantifying the Peripheral Surface Information Entropy from Conformational Ensembles of Globular Protein-Peptide Complexes.

Biophysical journal·2026
Same journal

Anisotropic unbinding and location-dependent hovering of a kinesin motor head over microtubule.

Biophysical journal·2026
See all related articles

Molecular dynamics simulations reveal that spectrin repeat extension causes a force peak due to alpha-helical linker rupture. This rupture shifts material properties from elastic to viscous, explaining atomic force microscopy sawtooth patterns.

Area of Science:

  • Biophysics
  • Materials Science
  • Computational Biology

Background:

  • Spectrin repeat units are crucial in cell mechanics.
  • Understanding their mechanical properties is vital for interpreting biophysical experiments.
  • Atomic force microscopy (AFM) often reveals sawtooth patterns in force-extension curves.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the mechanical response of a spectrin repeat unit under extension.
  • To elucidate the role of the alpha-helical linker in force response and rupture.
  • To correlate simulation findings with experimental observations in AFM.

Main Methods:

  • Cyclic expansion nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations were employed.
  • Periodic boundary conditions were utilized to model the system.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Force-extension curves were analyzed to characterize material properties.

    • Main Results:

    • A linear force increase was observed up to ~0.4 nm extension.
    • A peak force response occurred, followed by a decline, indicating a transition from elastic to viscous behavior.
    • The force peak correlated with the rupture of the alpha-helical linker, involving the breaking of approximately four hydrogen bonds.
    • Post-rupture, the linker exhibited helix-to-coil transitions.

    Conclusions:

    • Alpha-helical linker rupture is a key event driving the force peaks in spectrin repeat extension.
    • This rupture signifies a transition to viscous behavior on simulation timescales.
    • The findings provide insights into interpreting unfolding and AFM experiments involving spectrin repeats.