Figure 15.

Deformation spreading through a designed elastic network with asymmetric cooperativity. Four consequent snapshots are displayed. Upon ligand binding, elastic links around the pocket in the left domain become strained (a). Later on, the deformation propagates into the interface between the two domains (b,c). Eventually, the links around the pocket in the right domain get strained (c,d). Thus, contraction of the ligand pocket in the left domain leads to opening of the pocket in the right domain, i.e. to an allosteric effect. Bond thickness visualizes the strain magnitude of the respective elastic link. The colour indicates whether a link is stretched (blue) or compressed (red). Contracting forces were applied to two beads (green) in the ligand pocket. The allosteric effect was quantified by measuring the distance between two beads (green) in the response pocket. Adapted from [33]. See also the electronic supplementary material, video S8. (Online version in colour.)