The new view of folding: figure gallery

If you see a jpeg image you like, you can download the corresponding PostScript file. Please cite Ken A. Dill and Hue Sun Chan, From Levinthal to pathways to funnels, 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 PostScript file.

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 PostScript file.

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 PostScript file.

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 PostScript file.

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 PostScript file.

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 PostScript file.

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