Mechanics of thermal adaptation

Somero’s corresponding state principle relates protein enhanced thermal stability with mechanical rigidity. A natural way to test the mechanical stiffness of a protein is to apply a directional force as in single molecule AFM experiments. Recent experiments have been therefore inspired by the possible correlation among the mechanical and thermal stabilities. Unfortunately single molecule experiments lack molecular resolution, and in silico realisation of thermal and mechanical unfolding can provide very useful insights. This is exactly what we have done in a recent work focused on two homologues belonging to the Cold Shock Protein family. Our results show that for these species there is not a correlation among the thermal resistance of the thermophilic Csp and its mechanical stability. The paper is out in JPC Letter [here].