nanosecond t-jump experiment in poly(glutamic acid) a circular dichroism study纳秒不要急于保利(谷氨酸)一个圆二色性实验研究.pdfVIP

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2012, 13, 2239-2248; doi:10.3390/ijm OPEN ACCESS International Journal of Molecular Sciences ISSN 1422-0067 /journal/ijms Article Nanosecond T-Jump Experiment in Poly(glutamic acid): A Circular Dichroism Study Lucille Mendonça and François Hache * Laboratory for Optics and Biosciences, Ecole Polytechnique/CNRS/INSERM, 91128 Palaiseau cedex, France * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: francois.hache@; Tel.: +33-169-33-50-39; Fax: +33-169-33-50-84. Received: 5 January 2012; in revised form: 2 February 2012 / Accepted: 13 February 2012 / Published: 17 February 2012 Abstract: Poly(glutamic acid) has been studied with a nanosecond T-jump experiment. A new experimental set-up based on the frequency-quadrupling of an 82 MHz Titanium-Sapphire laser allows rapid CD measurements to be performed. Combining time-resolved absorption and circular dichroism at 204 and 220 nm, we are able to measure precisely the unfolding relaxation time as well as the helical fraction evolution. We show that only CD at 220 nm is relevant to observe the unfolding of an alpha helix whereas no change is observed for CD at 204 nm. Conversely, both absorptions yield information on the dynamics of the process. Keywords: circular dichroism; poly(glutamic acid); T-jump 1. Introduction Protein folding remains one of the most important challenges