Coherent neutron scattering and collective dynamics in the protein, GFP

Jonathan D. Nickels; Stefania Perticaroli; Hugh O'Neill; Qiu Zhang; Georg Ehlers; Alexei P. Sokolov

doi:10.1016/j.bpj.2013.09.029

Coherent neutron scattering and collective dynamics in the protein, GFP

Jonathan D. Nickels, Stefania Perticaroli, Hugh O'Neill, Qiu Zhang, Georg Ehlers, Alexei P. Sokolov

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22 Scopus citations

Abstract

Collective dynamics are considered to be one of the major properties of soft materials, including biological macromolecules. We present coherent neutron scattering studies of the low-frequency vibrations, the so-called boson peak, in fully deuterated green fluorescent protein (GFP). Our analysis revealed unexpectedly low coherence of the atomic motions in GFP. This result implies a low amount of in-phase collective motion of the secondary structural units contributing to the boson peak vibrations and fast conformational fluctuations on the picosecond timescale. These observations are in contrast to earlier studies of polymers and glass-forming systems, and suggest that random or out-of-phase motions of the β-strands contribute greater than two-thirds of the intensity to the low-frequency vibrational spectra of GFP.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2182-2187
Number of pages	6
Journal	Biophysical Journal
Volume	105
Issue number	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2013.09.029
State	Published - Nov 5 2013

Funding

J.D.N. and A.P.S. acknowledge Department of Energy support through the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (grant No. DE-FG02-08ER46528). H.O’N. and Q.Z. acknowledge the support of the Center for Structural Molecular Biology at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, supported by the Department of Energy Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research Project No. ERKP291. The research at the Spallation Neutron Source was sponsored by the Scientific User Facilities Division, Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences.

Funders	Funder number
Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences
Office of Biological and Environmental Research Project	ERKP291
U.S. Department of Energy	DE-FG02-08ER46528

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abstract = "Collective dynamics are considered to be one of the major properties of soft materials, including biological macromolecules. We present coherent neutron scattering studies of the low-frequency vibrations, the so-called boson peak, in fully deuterated green fluorescent protein (GFP). Our analysis revealed unexpectedly low coherence of the atomic motions in GFP. This result implies a low amount of in-phase collective motion of the secondary structural units contributing to the boson peak vibrations and fast conformational fluctuations on the picosecond timescale. These observations are in contrast to earlier studies of polymers and glass-forming systems, and suggest that random or out-of-phase motions of the β-strands contribute greater than two-thirds of the intensity to the low-frequency vibrational spectra of GFP.",

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AU - Perticaroli, Stefania

AU - O'Neill, Hugh

AU - Zhang, Qiu

AU - Ehlers, Georg

AU - Sokolov, Alexei P.

PY - 2013/11/5

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Coherent neutron scattering and collective dynamics in the protein, GFP

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