A Characteristic Aspect of Pressure Denaturation of Proteins Implied by the Pressure Behavior of Helical Peptides

Abstract

  In this article, we reviewed recent high pressure studies on the helix-coil transition of various types of model peptides. All results showed the pressure-induced stabilization or refolding, which are apparently opposite to the case of pressure denaturation of proteins. We proposed a thermodynamic model explaining these apparent opposing results. In the end, we noted that unfolding/folding of secondary structure of model peptides are suitable model systems for exploring molecular mechanism of the pressure denaturation which cannot be explained by cavity model.