• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 2004

Thermodynamic properties of ubiquitin transient folding intermediate were studied by measuring folding kinetics in varying temperatures and denaturant concentrations. Through quantitative kinetic modeling, the equilibrium constant, hence folding free energy, between unfolded state and intermediate state in several different temperatures were calculated. Using these values, the thermodynamic parameters were estimated. The heat capacity change $({\Delta}C_p)$ upon formation of folding intermediate from unfolded state were estimated to be around 80% of the overall folding reaction, indicating that ubiquitin folding intermediate is highly compact. At room temperature, the changes of enthalpy and entropy upon formation of the intermediate state were observed to be positive. The positive enthalpy change suggests that the breaking up of the highly ordered solvent structure surrounding hydrophobic side-chain upon formation of intermediate state. This positive enthalpy was compensated for by the positive entropy change of whole system so that formation of transient intermediate has negative free energy.