Figure 10. Dimerization increases the α-actinin rod domain rigidity especially in resilience to extensional forces.

Terminus B of a monomer alone, and a monomer in dimer conformation were extended using external force. Results suggest that single monomers (yellow 100 pN, orange 151 pN, and red 175 pN) extend with less force than monomers in a dimer complex (green). Forces up to 200 pN were unable to fully extend the dimer complex but forces of 150 pN fully extended the single monomers. Full extension is indicated by the pink dotted line. Simulations were run for 500 ps and validated with shorter explicit simulations.