Time-resolved optical absorption microspectroscopy of magnetic field sensitive flavin photochemistry
| Autor: | Lewis M. Antill, Jonathan R. Woodward, Joshua P. Beardmore |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
Microscopy
Confocal Low protein Optical Phenomena 010405 organic chemistry Chemistry Molecular biophysics Resolution (electron density) Color Flavin group Photochemical Processes 010402 general chemistry Photochemistry 01 natural sciences Biomagnetism 0104 chemical sciences Optical phenomena Magnetic Fields Absorption Physicochemical Cryptochrome Flavins Absorption (electromagnetic radiation) Instrumentation |
| Zdroj: | Review of Scientific Instruments. 89:023707 |
| ISSN: | 1089-7623 0034-6748 |
| Popis: | The photochemical reactions of blue-light receptor proteins have received much attention due to their very important biological functions. In addition, there is also growing evidence that the one particular class of such proteins, the cryptochromes, may be associated with not only a biological photo-response but also a magneto-response, which may be responsible for the mechanism by which many animals can respond to the weak geomagnetic field. Therefore, there is an important scientific question over whether it is possible to directly observe such photochemical processes, and indeed the effects of weak magnetic fields thereon, taking place both in purified protein samples in vitro and in actual biochemical cells and tissues. For the former samples, the key lies in being able to make sensitive spectroscopic measurements on very small volumes of samples at potentially low protein concentrations, while the latter requires, in addition, spatially resolved measurements on length scales smaller than typical cellular components, i.e., sub-micron resolution. In this work, we discuss a two- and three-color confocal pump-probe microscopic approach to this question which satisfies these requirements and is thus useful for experimental measurements in both cases. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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