On the Kinetic Behavior and Folding

The kinetic behavior of a three-dimensional oo-lattice heteropolymer model is studied in terms of the time dependence of the average mean-square displacement between conngura-tions. It is found that at short timescales similar behavior is obtained even for sequences with very diierent thermodynamic properties. Furthermore, the degree of cooperativity in the folding process is examined by studying the residual number of degrees of freedom, obtained from an eigenvalue analysis of the correlation matrix, contributing to the structural uctuations. In the compact state, a gradual decrease in this eeective number of degrees of freedom take place as the temperature is lowered. This can be interpreted as an increasing asymmetry of the energy landscape.