Spotlights on Recent JACS Publications

摘要

The structural and mechanical properties of proteins are intimately linked with their function. During blood clotting, the protein fibrinogen undergoes proteolytic conversion to monomeric fibrin which, in turn, polymerizes and forms three-dimensional filamentous networks, the scaffold for blood clots and thrombi. The elasticity of the fibrin polymer is important, for example, to stop bleeding, but the molecular-scale changes that accompany the mechanical deformations of fibrin are not understood.