Poster abstracts
Poster number 18 submitted by Nicolas Macro
Hydration Dynamics Inside GroEL Cavity
Nicolas Macro (Department of Physics, The Ohio State University), Amnon Horovitz (Weizmann Institute of Science), Dongping Zhong (The Ohio State University)
Abstract:
GroEL is a very large (~800 kDa) 14-mer Group I chaperonin that is native to E. coli. The primary function of GroEL is to encapsulate other proteins to assist in their folding to the native state. Despite being the subject of intense study over the past 25 years, the mechanism that provides this astonishing function is still not understood. Of the many competing models that attempt to explain the function, some attribute it to a unique water environment inside the GroEL cavity. This poster outlines the preliminary results of an ultrafast fluorescence spectroscopic measurement of intrinsic tryptophan as probes for local water relaxation dynamics. The measurements indicate a unique water environment inside the GroEL cavity.
Keywords: groel, water, dynamics