TY - JOUR T1 - Chameleonicity and folding of the C-fragment of TOP7 JF - EPL (Europhysics Letters) Y1 - 2012 A1 - M. L. Gaye A1 - C. Hardwick A1 - Maksim Kouza A1 - Ulrich H. E. Hansmann AB - Using a specifically designed Go-model we have performed all-atom simulations of the C-fragment of TOP7. Our results support previous results (see Mohanty S. et al. , Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. , 105 (2008) 8004; Mohanty S. and Hansmann U. H. E., J. Phys. Chem. B , 112 (2008) 15134) that indicate folding of this protein through configurations with non-native secondary structure. The N-terminal residues form first an extension of a subsequent α-helix, before finally refolding into a β-strand that completes a three-stranded β-sheet in the final structure. We show that mutations which reduce the "chameleonicity" of N-terminal residues (by increasing the propensity for "strandness" and reducing that for "helicity") lead to folding into the same structure but with reduced folding rates and larger free-energy barriers. VL - 97 UR - http://stacks.iop.org/0295-5075/97/i=6/a=68003 ER -