Theoretical analysis of dynamic force spectroscopy experiments on ligand-receptor complexes

Raible M, Evstigneev M, Reimann P, Bartels FW, Ros R. Theoretical analysis of dynamic force spectroscopy experiments on ligand-receptor complexes. Journal of Biotechnology. 2004;112(1-2):13-23.The forced rupture of single chemical bonds in biomolecular compounds (e.g. ligand-receptor systems) as observed in dynamic force spectroscopy experiments is addressed. Under the assumption that the probability of bond rupture depends only on the instantaneously acting force, a data collapse onto a single master curve is predicted. For rupture data obtained experimentally by dynamic AFM force spectroscopy of a ligand-receptor bond between a DNA and a regulatory protein we do not find such a collapse. We conclude that the above mentioned, generally accepted assumption is not satisfied and we discuss possible explanations. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved