title: Red-edge-excitation fluorescence spectroscopy of single-tryptophan proteins.
abstract: With the aim of finding non-equilibrium dipole-relaxational electronic excited states of tryptophan residues in proteins the dependence of the fluorescence emission maximum on excitation wavelength was studied for several proteins containing a single tryptophan residue per molecule. Spectral shifts upon red-edge excitation are not observed for short wavelength-emitting proteins (azurin, two-calcium form of whiting parvalbumin, ribonucleases C2 and T1). This may be because of the non-polar environment of the tryptophan residues in these proteins or because of the absence of dipole-orientational broadening of spectra. The effect was also not found for proteins emitting at long wavelengths (max. at 341-350 nm)-melittin at low ionic strength, IT-Aj1 protease inhibitor, myelin basic protein. In these proteins, the tryptophan residues are exposed to the rapidly relaxing aqueous solvent. Spectral shifts associated with red-edge excitation are observed for proteins emitting in the medium spectral range - human serum albumin in the N and F forms, IT-Aj1 protease inhibitor at pH 2.9, melittin at high ionic strength as well as the albumin-dodecyl-sulfate complex. This suggests the existence in these proteins of a distribution of microstates for tryptophan environment with various orientation of dipoles and of slow (on the nanosecond time scale) mobility of the field of these dipoles. As a result the emission proceeds from electronic excited states which are not at equilibrium.
authors.affiliation: A. V. Palladin Institute of Biochemistry, Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences, Kiev, USSR.
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Demchenko
mesh_terms: D011506:Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods; D013816:Thermodynamics; D014364:Tryptophan
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; D014364:Tryptophan