When solvent breaks a protein: protein unfolding under shear

Proteins break under the action of different perturbations, the temperature, chemicals, mechanical forces. Fluid flow too, in special condition, unfolds a protein. In some biological processes, the fluid induced perturbation is even functional. That is the case of blood coagulation where the long chain of the von Willibrend factor unrolls and extends under the action of blood shear flow caused by a vessel injury. Other proteins, known as catch-bonds, use the tensile force to strength the binding with their substrate via a sort of allosteric conformational change. It is therefore intriguing to understand in which conditions a protein unfolds in shear flow, and the molecular mechanism of the process. We have dedicated a recent paper to this by exploiting the power of the lattice Boltzmann MD technique. Surf it here.