Time-Resolved Vibrational Spectroscopic Investigation of Ultrafast Protein Dynamics Coupled with Photoreaction

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In many biological systems a localized small structural change extends spatially to mesoscopic dimensions to achieve a physiological function, and higher-order structural changes of proteins are essential to this process. Myoglobin (Mb) is one of the best molecules for studying such features of proteins, because photodissociation of CO from carbonmonoxyMb (MbCO), a localized reaction, takes place within 50 fs like a step-function with a quantum yield of nearly unity. It is know from x-ray studies that the iron atom moves out of the porphyrin plane by 〜0.3 A and the core-size expands by 0.05A upon deligation of CO. To explore the protein dynamics involved in this process, we have investigated picosecond time-resolved resonance Raman spectra of photodissociated MbCO.Close inspection of the spectra of deoxyMb following CO photolysis in the 1300-1650 cm^<-1> region revealed that the core-size expansion of porphyrin ring is completed within the instrumental response time (〜2 ps). In contrast, changes in the intensity and frequency of the Fe-His stretching mode (VFe-His) occurred in picoseconds, suggesting appreciable time evolution for the Fe displacement from the porphyrin plane. The same behaviors were observed for the model compound of the heme group without protein matrix. Therefore, this reflects an intrinsic property of heme itself. On the other hand, the frequency of the VFe-His mode changed with a time constant of 〜100 ps. This frequency change was not seen for the model compound without the protein matrix. Therefore, this must be caused by tertiary structural changes of the protein. Temporal changes of the anti-Stokes Raman intensity of the V_4 and V_7 bands demonstrated immediate generation of the vibrationally excited heme upon photolysis and subsequent decay of the vibrationally excited population with the time constants of 1.1±0.6 and 1.9±0.6 ps, respectively.