Figure 34.

Schematic representation of the continuum model of protein structure. The color gradient represents a continuum of conformational states ranging from highly dynamic, expanded conformational ensembles (red) to compact, dynamically restricted, fully folded globular states (blue). Dynamically disordered states are represented by heavy lines, stably folded structures as cartoons. A characteristic of IDPs is that they rapidly interconvert between multiple states in the dynamic conformational ensemble. In the continuum model, the proteome would populate the entire spectrum of dynamics, disorder, and folded structure depicted. Reproduced with permission from ref (403). Copyright 2014 American Chemical Society.