Reaction rate theory for supramolecular kinetics: application to protein aggregation

Probing the reaction mechanisms of supramolecular processes in soft- and biological matter, such as protein aggregation, is inherently challenging. These processes emerge from the simultaneous action of multiple molecular mechanisms, each of which is associated with the rearrangement of a large number of weak bonds, resulting in a complex free energy landscape with many kinetic barriers. Reaction rate measurements of supramolecular processes at different temperatures can offer unprecedented insights into the underlying molecular mechanisms and their thermodynamic properties. However, to be able to interpret such measurements in terms of the underlying microscopic mechanisms, a key challenge is to establish which properties of the complex free energy landscapes are probed by the reaction rate. Here, we present a reaction rate theory for supramolecular kinetics based on Kramers rate theory for diffusive reactions over multiple kinetic barriers, and apply the results to protein aggregation. Using this framework and Monte Carlo simulations, we show that reaction rates for protein aggregation are of the Arrhenius-Eyring type and that the associated activation energies probe only one relevant barrier along the respective free energy landscapes. We apply this advancement to interpret, both in experiments and in coarse-grained computer simulations, reaction rate measurements of amyloid aggregation kinetics in terms of the underlying molecular mechanisms and associated thermodynamic signatures. Our results establish a general platform for probing the mechanisms and energetics of supramolecular phenomena in soft- and biological matter using the framework of chemical kinetics.