English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Single-molecule pulling experiments are widely used to extract both thermodynamic and kinetic data on ligand-receptor pairs, typically by fitting different models to the probability distribution of rupture forces of the corresponding bond. Here, a theoretical model is presented that shows how a measurement of the number of binding and unbinding events as a function of the observation time can also give access to both the binding ( k  on ) and the unbinding ( k  off ) rates of bonds, which combined provide a well-defined bond free-energy Δ G  bond . The connection between Δ G  bond  and the ligand-receptor binding constant measured by typical binding essays is critically discussed. The role played by the molecular construct used to tether ligands and receptors to a surface is considered, highlighting the various approximations necessary to derive general expressions that connect its structure to its contribution, termed Δ G  cnf , to the bond free-energy. In this way, the validity and the assumptions underpinning widely employed formulas and experimental protocols used to extract binding constants from single-molecule experiments are assessed. Finally, the role of Δ G  cnf  in processes mediated by ligand-receptor binding is briefly considered, and an experiment to unambiguously measure this quantity proposed.

On the interpretation of kinetics and thermodynamics probed by single-molecule experiments