Protein response to ligation reactions in myoglobin

The protein response to the photodissociation, escape and subsequent rebinding of carbon monoxide in myoglobin is studied using time-resolved infrared (TRIR) spectroscopy. All phases of these reactions areinvestigated, from ultrafast phenomena (picoseconds) to relatively slow processes (milliseconds). Conformational changes in myoglobin (Mb) are detected by time-resolved absorption changes in the amide I band. On the hundreds of nanoseconds to milliseconds timescale, a ``real-time`` apparatus is used. This apparatus is based on a tunable diode laser operating in the region of 1650 cm{sup {minus}1} . The time course ofchanges in the amide I band are shown to follow the recombination of CO with photolyzed Mb. On the basis of the rise times of the amide I and FE-CO signals, it is concluded that protein motion is complete within 100 n. A time-resolved difference spectrum in the amide I region is generated from single wavelength transients taken throughout the amide I envelope. A static difference spectrum is also generated by subtracting FTIR spectra of carbonmonoxy and deoxy myoglobin. The two difference spectra are compared and are interpreted in terms of the three-dimensional structures of deoxy and carbonmonoxy Mb. Preliminary picosecond TRIR data are also given for the ultrafast response of the protein immediately following photodissociation of CO

Picosecond decay kinetics and quantum yield of fluorescence of the photoactive yellow protein from the halophilic purple phototrophic bacterium, Ectothiorhodospira halophila

The photoactive yellow protein (PYP) has been previously shown to be partially bleached and red shifted (in less than 10 ns) by a pulse of laser excitation at the wavelength maximum (445 nm), to further bleach (k = 7.5 × 10(3) s(-1)), and then to slowly recover in the dark (k = 2.6 s(-1)) (Meyer, T. E., G. Tollin, J. H. Hazzard, and M. A. Cusanovich. 1989. Biophys. J. 56:559-564). The quantum yield for the formation of the fully bleached form was found to be 0.64. We have now shown that the yellow protein is weakly fluorescent with an emission maximum at 495 nm (which mirrors excitation at 445 nm) and a fluorescence quantum yield of 1.4 × 10(-3). Measurement of the picosecond kinetics of the fluorescence decay shows that ∼90% of the emission occurs with a lifetime of 12 ps. This is in good agreement with the quantum yield determination, which suggests that a single quenching process (presumably the photochemical event) is primarily responsible for the excited state decay. The lifetime of the excited state of PYP is remarkably similar to that for the rise of the first photochemical intermediate of bacteriorhodopsin, and underscores the fundamental similarity in their photocycles despite a lack of structural relationship