Fig 3. Simulations on the evolution of protein denaturation temperature under selection for thermodynamic stability only.

All simulations assume an environmental temperature of 37°C and use as starting denaturation parameters those corresponding to E. coli thioredoxin (including a denaturation temperature value of 89°C which is about 50 degrees higher than the assumed environmental temperature). Upper panel: simulations performed using different values for the threshold value of the unfolding equilibrium constant. Lower panel: final values of the denaturation temperature obtained in the simulations shown in the upper panel versus the threshold K* values used.