Folding funnel
= Folding funnel
A <folding funnel> is a schematic <energy landscape> in which increasingly native-like <protein> <conformations> tend to have lower <free energy>, while the many unfolded <conformations> occupy a broad region. Roughness represents barriers and possible kinetic traps. The funnel is an organizing description, not a claim that every <protein> follows one unique geometrical trajectory or possesses a rigid isolated native state.