The new view of folding: figure dispensary

You can download compressed PostScript files for the figures in the corresponding captions. Please cite Ken A. Dill and Hue Sun Chan, Nature Structural Biology, Volume 4 No. 1, January 1997.

• Figure 1. The Levinthal 'golf-course' landscape. N is the native conformation. The chain searches for N randomly, that is, on a level playing field of energies. Download golf course.
• Figure 2. The 'pathway' solution to the random search problem of Fig. 1. A pathway is assumed to lead from a denatured conformation A to the native conformation N, so conformational searching is more directed and folding is faster than for random searching. Download grooved golf course.
• Figure 3a. An idealized funnel landscape. As the chain forms increasing numbers of intrachain contacts, and lowers its internal free energy, its conformational freedom is also reduced. Download smooth funnel.
• Figure 4. A rugged energy landscape with kinetic traps, energy barriers, and some narrow throughway paths to native. Folding can be multi-state. Download bumpy bowl.
• Figure 5. Moat Landscape, to illustrate how a protein could have a fast-folding throughway process (A), in parallel with a slow-folding process (B) involving a kinetic trap. Download moat.
• Figure 6. Champagne Glass Landscape, to illustrate how conformational entropy can cause free energy barriers to folding. The 'bottleneck' or rate limit to folding is the aimless wandering on the flat plateau as the chain tries to find its way downhill. Download champagne.

Page maintainer, Danny Heap, can be reached at lsch@maxwell.ucsf.edu. Last update: March 14, 1997.