TY - JOUR
T1 - Excited-State Lifetimes of Far-Infrared Collective Modes in Proteins
AU - Xie, Aihua
AU - van der Meer, Alexander F.G.
AU - Austin, Robert H.
PY - 2002
Y1 - 2002
N2 - Vibrational excitations of low frequency collective modes are essential for functionally important conformational transitions in proteins. Here we report the first direct measurement on the lifetime of vibrational excitations of the collective modes at 87 [Formula presented] [Formula presented] in bacteriorhodopsin, a transmembrane protein. The data show that these modes have extremely long lifetime of vibrational excitations, over 500 ps, accommodating 1500 vibrations. We suggest that there is a connection between this relatively slow anharmonic relaxation rate of approximately [Formula presented] and the similar observed rate of conformational transitions in proteins, which require multilevel vibrational excitations.
AB - Vibrational excitations of low frequency collective modes are essential for functionally important conformational transitions in proteins. Here we report the first direct measurement on the lifetime of vibrational excitations of the collective modes at 87 [Formula presented] [Formula presented] in bacteriorhodopsin, a transmembrane protein. The data show that these modes have extremely long lifetime of vibrational excitations, over 500 ps, accommodating 1500 vibrations. We suggest that there is a connection between this relatively slow anharmonic relaxation rate of approximately [Formula presented] and the similar observed rate of conformational transitions in proteins, which require multilevel vibrational excitations.
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U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.018102
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.018102
M3 - Article
C2 - 11800992
AN - SCOPUS:84899527308
SN - 0031-9007
VL - 88
SP - 4
JO - Physical review letters
JF - Physical review letters
IS - 1
ER -