title: Fluorescence quenching by photoinduced electron transfer: a reporter for conformational dynamics of macromolecules.
abstract: Photoinduced electron transfer (PET) between organic fluorophores and suitable electron donating moieties, for example, the amino acid tryptophan or the nucleobase guanine, can quench fluorescence upon van der Waals contact and thus report on molecular contact. PET-quenching has been used as reporter for monitoring conformational dynamics in polypeptides, proteins, and oligonucleotides. Whereas dynamic quenching transiently influences quantum yield and fluorescence lifetime of the fluorophore, static quenching in pi-stacked complexes efficiently suppresses fluorescence emission over time scales longer than the fluorescence lifetime. Static quenching therefore provides sufficient contrast to be observed at the single-molecule level. Here, we review complex formation and static quenching of different fluorophores by various molecular compounds, discuss applications as reporter system for macromolecular dynamics, and give illustrating examples.
authors.affiliation: Applied Laser Physics and Laser Spectroscopy, Bielefeld University, Universitätsstr. 25, 33619 Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Sören
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Doose
authors.forename: Hannes
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Neuweiler
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sauer
mesh_terms: D001704:Biopolymers / Q000737:chemistry; D004579:Electron Transport; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry*; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000737:chemistry; D010777:Photochemistry; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D001704:Biopolymers; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D009930:Organic Chemicals; D011506:Proteins