Ultrafast Time-Resolved and Vibrational Dynamics of Cytochrome c

Ying Kuan Ko^1*, Atsushi Yabushita^1,2, Takayoshi Kobayashi^1,3,4

¹Department of Electrophysics, National Chiao-Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
²Faculty of Engineering, Kanagawa University, Yokohama, Japan
³Brain Science Inspired Life Support Research Center, The University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo, Japan
⁴Research Center for Water Frontier Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, Tokyo, Japan

* Presenter:Ying Kuan Ko, email:kentko78@gmail.com

Cytochrome c(cyt c) is an important heme protein which acts an indispensable electron carrier in biological electron transfer chain. It is involved in a variety of biological functions including photosynthesis, oxidative phosphorylation, and apoptosis. Because of the high Solubility,the ferric form of Cyt c(Fe(III)-O) is a suitable material for studying the unfolding dynamics of proteins.

Ultrafast time-resolved spectroscopy is widely used to study the coordination dynamics and the structure changes of materials. We have developed homemade near ultraviolet (NUV) ultrashort pulse laser with broadband spectrum (370-440 nm) time duration shorter than 10fs. We investigated ultrafast electronic and vibrational dynamics of ferric and ferrous cytochrome c molecules in the NUV region.

Keywords: Time-resolved spectroscopy, Cytochrome c, Vibrational modes