20 research outputs found
Metalloprotein entatic control of ligand-metal bonds quantified by ultrafast x-ray spectroscopy
The multifunctional protein cytochrome c (cyt c) plays key roles in electron transport and apoptosis, switching function by modulating bonding between a heme iron and the sulfur in a methionine residue. This Fe-S(Met) bond is too weak to persist in the absence of protein constraints. We ruptured the bond in ferrous cyt c using an optical laser pulse and monitored the bond reformation within the protein active site using ultrafast x-ray pulses from an x-ray free-electron laser, determining that the Fe-S(Met) bond enthalpy is ~4 kcal/mol stronger than in the absence of protein constraints. The 4 kcal/mol is comparable with calculations of stabilization effects in other systems, demonstrating how biological systems use an entatic state for modest yet accessible energetics to modulate chemical function
The Time-resolved Atomic, Molecular and Optical Science Instrument at the Linac Coherent Light Source
The newly constructed Time-resolved atomic, Molecular and Optical science
instrument (TMO), is configured to take full advantage of both linear
accelerators at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, the copper accelerator
operating at a repetition rate of 120 Hz providing high per pulse energy, as
well as the superconducting accelerator operating at a repetition rate of about
1 MHz providing high average intensity. Both accelerators build a soft X-ray
free electron laser with the new variable gab undulator section. With this
flexible light sources, TMO supports many experimental techniques not
previously available at LCLS and will have two X-ray beam focus spots in line.
Thereby, TMO supports Atomic, Molecular and Optical (AMO), strong-field and
nonlinear science and will host a designated new dynamic reaction microscope
with a sub-micron X-ray focus spot. The flexible instrument design is optimized
for studying ultrafast electronic and molecular phenomena and can take full
advantage of the sub-femtosecond soft X-ray pulse generation program