PROTEIN CONFORMATIONAL CHANGE TRIGGERED BY NI-BCHL-A EXCITATION

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. We plan to study structural changes and kinetic mechanism after photoexcitation of a Ni-BChl-a incorporated into a de-novo maquette. A maquette is thereby a purely synthetic peptide structures with protein flexibility that is tailored at the molecular level to accomplish as wide a variety of chemical, mechanical and electrical functions as displayed by natural proteins, but with a simplicity and robustness uncharacteristic of living matter. From previous studies on the optical spectroscopy of Ni-BChl-a complexes, it is known that a repulsion of the axial ligands occurs after photoexcitation. We would like to use this phototrigger to initiate protein motion in a de-novo protein to study protein conformational dynamics. Ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy is to be used to further investigate into structural changes occurring after photoexcitation.