The role of the energy gap in protein folding dynamics

The dynamics of folding of proteins is studied by means of a phenomenologic al master equation. The energy distribution is taken as a truncated exponen tial for the misfolded states plus a native state sitting below the continu um. The influence of the gap on the dynamics is studied, for various models of the transition probabilities between the different states of the protei n. We show that for certain models, the relaxation to the native state is a ccelerated by increasing the gap, whereas for others it is slowed down.