Submillisecond kinetics of protein folding

Abstract New experimental methods permit observation of protein folding and unfolding on the previously inaccessible nanosecond—microsecond timescale. These studies are beginning to establish times for the elementary motions in protein folding — secondary structure and loop formation, local hydrophobic collapse, and global collapse to the compact denatured state. They permit an estimate of about one microsecond for the shortest time in which a protein can possibly fold.