Valeri Barsegov

TL;DR: It is found that mechanical unraveling of fibrin(ogen) is determined by the combined molecular transitions that couple stepwise unfolding of the γ chain nodules and reversible extension-contraction of the α-helical coiled-coil connectors.

TL;DR: The soft α-to-β phase transition in coiled coil connectors of the human fibrin(ogen) molecule might be a universal mechanism underlying mechanical properties of filamentous α-helical proteins.

TL;DR: It is found that the mechanical molecular response critically depends on the conditions of force application and that the kinetics and pathways for unfolding change drastically even upon a modest 10‐fold increase in vf, implying that, to resolve accurately the free energy landscape and to relate the results of single‐molecule experiments in vitro and in silico, molecular simulations should be carried out under the experimentally relevant force loads.

TL;DR: In this article, a microtubule is modeled as a system of rigid elements interconnected through a network of lateral and longitudinal elastic bonds, and the free energies of dissociation of the tubulin-tubulin bonds are determined.