title: (2)H NMR study of the water dynamics in hydrated myoglobin.
abstract: We use 1D and 2D (2)H NMR to study the temperature-dependent mechanism for the rotational motion of myoglobin hydration water. The results show that isotropic and anisotropic water reorientation is observed at high and low temperatures, respectively, with a continuous crossover in the temperature range of 200-230 K. The anisotropic low-temperature motion has a large angular amplitude. It exhibits a broad distribution of geometries and pronounced dynamical heterogeneities, which are long-lived at least at T approximately 176 K. Exploiting the possibility to vary the angular resolution of (2)H NMR experiments, we find that the large solid angle accessible to low-temperature water reorientation is explored via large-angle rather than small-angle elementary steps; i.e., the rotational motion is not diffusive. Quantitative analysis of the NMR data using random-walk simulations implies that the number of sites involved in the observed water reorientation decreases from an infinite number during essentially isotropic motion above 230 K to a few, possibly two, below 165 K. Although the changes in the mechanism for water rotational motion may be accompanied by a mild change in the temperature dependence of the rotational correlation times, the (2)H NMR data provide strong evidence against the existence of a sharp fragile-to-strong transition at about 225 K. The present results are discussed in the context of previous experimental findings for hydrated proteins.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Festkörperphysik, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Hochschulstrasse 6, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Lusceac
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vogel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009211:Myoglobin / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D019906:Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular; D013696:Temperature; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D009211:Myoglobin; D014867:Water