The 'thermodynamic hypothesis' proposes that the sequence of a biological macromolecule defines its folded, active structure as a global energy minimum in the folding landscape; however, it is not clear whether there is only one global minimum or several local minima corresponding to active conformations. Here, using single-molecule experiments, an RNA enzyme is shown to fold into multiple distinct native states that interconvert.
- Sergey V. Solomatin
- Max Greenfeld
- Daniel Herschlag