Abstract
Proteins and nucleic acids self-assemble spontaneously into complex functional structures through a diffusive search in conformational space for their native structure. This search typically involves thermally-activated crossing of an energy barrier to find the folded state, with only a few self-assembly attempts leading to productive ‘transition paths’ crossing the entire barrier; instead, most attempts are non-productive. Though there has been significant progress in using measurements of transition paths to gain new microscopic insights into folding mechanisms, non-productive attempts at folding have never been experimentally characterised before, owing to their fleeting nature.
Published Version
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