Microscopic reversibility of protein folding in molecular dynamics simulations of the engrailed homeodomain

The principle of microscopic reversibility states that at equilibrium the number of molecules entering a state by a given path must equal those exiting the state via the same path under identical conditions or, in structural terms, that the conformations along the two pathways are the same. There has been some indirect evidence indicating that protein folding is such a process, but there have been few conclusive findings. In this study, we performed molecular dynamics simulations of an ultrafast unfolding and folding protein at its melting temperature to observe, on an atom-by-atom basis, the pathways the protein followed as it unfolded and folded within a continuous trajectory. In a total of 0.67 micros of simulation in water, we found six transient denaturing events near the melting temperature (323 and 330 K) and an additional refolding event following a previously identified unfolding event at a high temperature (373 K). In each case, unfolding and refolding transition state ensembles were identified, and they agreed well with experiment on the basis of a comparison of S and Phi values. On the basis of several structural properties, these 13 transition state ensembles agreed very well with each other and with four previously identified transition states from high-temperature denaturing simulations. Thus, not only were the unfolding and refolding transition states part of the same ensemble, but in five of the seven cases, the pathway the protein took as it unfolded was nearly identical to the subsequent refolding pathway. These events provide compelling evidence that protein folding is a microscopically reversible process. In the other two cases, the folding and unfolding transition states were remarkably similar to each other but the paths deviated.