IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v5y2014i1d10.1038_ncomms4076.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optical measurements of long-range protein vibrations

Author

Listed:
  • Gheorghe Acbas

    (University at Buffalo, SUNY)

  • Katherine A. Niessen

    (University at Buffalo, SUNY)

  • Edward H. Snell

    (Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, University at Buffalo, SUNY)

  • A.G. Markelz

    (University at Buffalo, SUNY
    Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, University at Buffalo, SUNY)

Abstract

Protein biological function depends on structural flexibility and change. From cellular communication through membrane ion channels to oxygen uptake and delivery by haemoglobin, structural changes are critical. It has been suggested that vibrations that extend through the protein play a crucial role in controlling these structural changes. While nature may utilize such long-range vibrations for optimization of biological processes, bench-top characterization of these extended structural motions for engineered biochemistry has been elusive. Here we show the first optical observation of long-range protein vibrational modes. This is achieved by orientation-sensitive terahertz near-field microscopy measurements of chicken egg white lysozyme single crystals. Underdamped modes are found to exist for frequencies >10 cm−1. The existence of these persisting motions indicates that damping and intermode coupling are weaker than previously assumed. The methodology developed permits protein engineering based on dynamical network optimization.

Suggested Citation

  • Gheorghe Acbas & Katherine A. Niessen & Edward H. Snell & A.G. Markelz, 2014. "Optical measurements of long-range protein vibrations," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-7, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms4076
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4076
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms4076
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms4076?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Félix-Martínez, G.J. & Picones, A. & Godínez-Fernández, J.R., 2024. "Short and long-range correlations in single-channel currents from inwardly rectifying K+ channels," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms4076. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.