Analysis of anisotropic spin-label motion in saturation-transfer ESR spectra of spin-labeled cowpea chlorotic mottle virus

A saturation-transfer ESR study is carried out on maleimide spin-labeled cowpea chlorotic mottle virus dissolved in various glycerol-water systems. The saturation-transfer ESR spectra were analyzed by comparing them with reference spectra of isotropically reorienting spin labels. The results are interpreted in terms of the overall motion of the virus particle, described by an isotropic rotational correlation time τ_R, and a local anisotropic spin-label motion with rotational correlation times τ_| and τ_⊥.     

Comparing continuous wave progressive saturation EPR and time domain saturation recovery EPR over the entire motional range of nitroxide spin labels

The measurement of spin-lattice relaxation rates from spin labels, such as nitroxides, in the presence and absence of spin relaxants provides information that is useful for determining biomolecular properties such as nucleic acid dynamics and the interaction of proteins with membranes. We compare X-band continuous wave (CW) and pulsed or time domain (TD) EPR methods for obtaining spin-lattice relaxation rates of spin labels across the entire range of rotational motion to which relaxation rates are sensitive. Model nitroxides and spin-labeled biological species are used to illustrate the potential complications that arise in extracting relaxation data under conditions typical to biological experiments. The effect of super hyperfine (SHF) structure is investigated for both CW and TD spectra. First and second harmonic absorption and dispersion CW spectra of the nitroxide spin label, TEMPOL, are all fit simultaneously to a model of SHF structure over a range of microwave amplitudes. The CW spectra are novel because all harmonics and microwave phases were acquired simultaneously using our homebuilt CW/TD spectrometer. The effect of the SHF structure on the pulsed free induction decay (FID) and pulsed saturation recovery spectrum is shown for both protonated and deuterated TEMPOL. We present novel pulsed saturation recovery measurements on biological molecules, including spin-lattice relaxation rates of spin-labeled proteins and spin-labeled double-stranded DNA. The impact of structure and dynamics on relaxation rates are discussed in the context of each of these examples. Collisional relaxation rates with oxygen and transition metal paramagnetic relaxants are extracted using both continuous wave and time domain methods. The extent of the errors inherent in the CW method and the advantages of pulsed methods for unambiguously measuring collisional relaxation rates are discussed. Spin-lattice relaxation rates, determined by both CW and pulsed methods, are used to determine the electrostatic potential on the surface of a protein.     

Analysis of Quantum Rod Diffusion by Polarized Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy

To measure the polarization dependence of fluorescent probes, a confocal-microscope-based polarized fluorescence correlation spectroscopy system was developed, and the polarization dependence on the rotational diffusion of well-defined quantum rods (Qrods) was investigated and characterized. The rotational diffusion region of the Qrods was observed over a time range of less than 10^?5 s in a water solution, and the rotational diffusion parameters were extracted using a rotational diffusion model in which the viscosity of the solution media was varied. Our work demonstrated that polarized fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) is useful for investigating both the rotational and translational diffusion of fluorescent probes.     

Effects of Internal Rotations on the Time-Resolved Fluorescence in a Bichromophoric Protein System Under the Energy Transfer Interaction

Effects of internal rotations of chromophores under the energy transfer interaction in proteins on the time-resolved fluorescence were examined by numerical calculations. Expressions used for the calculations are based on the approximations that the energy transfer takes place according to Foöurster's mechanism and the rotational motions of the energy donor and acceptor along the surfaces of cones are described by a set of rotational diffusion equations. The intensity decay of the donor depended a little on the rotational diffusion coefficient of the donor in some cases, while that of the acceptor did very little. Anisotropy of the donor decayed faster as the diffusion coefficient of the donor increased. Anisotropy decay of the acceptor markedly depended not only on the mutual configuration of the pair in the protein, but also on the diffusion coefficient of the donor. The dependence of the time-resolved fluorescence on the diffusion coefficient of the acceptor was not as great as that of the donor.     

2D ESR image reconstruction from 1D projections using the modulated field gradient method

A method for the reconstruction of 2D ESR images from 1 D projections which is based on the modulated field gradient method has been explored. The 2D distribution of spin-labeled stearic acid in oriented and unoriented dimyristoyl phosphatidylcholine multilayers on a flat quartz support was determined. Such samples are potentially useful for the determination of lipid lateral diffusion in oriented multilayers by monitoring the spreading of a sharp concentration profile in one or two dimensions. The limitations of the method are discussed and the improvements which are needed for dynamic measurements are outlined.     

Probing passive diffusion of flagellated and deflagellated Escherichia coli

Using particle-tracking techniques, the translational and rotational diffusion of paralyzed E. coli with and without flagella are studied experimentally. The position and orientation of the bacteria are tracked in the lab frame and their corresponding mean-square displacements are analyzed in the lab frame and in the body frame to extract the intrinsic anisotropic translational diffusion coefficients as well as the rotational diffusion coefficient for both strains. The deflagellated strain is found to show an anisotropic translational diffusion, with diffusion coefficients that are compatible with theoretical estimates based on its measured geometrical features. The corresponding translational diffusion coefficients of the flagellated strain have been found to be reduced as compared to those of the deflagellated counterpart. Similar results have also been found for the rotational diffusion coefficients of the two strains. Our results suggest that the presence of flagella --even as a passive component-- has a significant role in the dynamics of E. coli, and should be taken into account in theoretical studies of its motion.     

Investigation of the rotational diffusion of the Rose Bengal fluorescent nanomarker in human serum albumin solutions

The polarized fluorescence of the Rose Bengal fluorescent nanomarker in HSA solutions was investigated and parameters of its rotational diffusion were calculated. The increase in the degree of fluorescence polarization, rotational relaxation time, and the effective hydrodynamic radius of Rose Bengal, as well as the decrease of the rotational diffusion coefficient in HSA solutions, were found. The effects of the electronegativity of atoms in the structure of the nanomarker on the parameters of its rotational diffusion were established based on comparison of Rose Bengal with other nanomarkers of the homologous family.     

Rotational diffusion of membrane proteins in aligned phospholipid bilayers by solid-state NMR spectroscopy

Solid-state NMR experiments on mechanically aligned bilayer and magnetically aligned bicelle samples demonstrate that membrane proteins undergo rapid rotational diffusion about the normal in phospholipid bilayers. Narrow single-line resonances are observed from 15N labeled sites in the trans-membrane helix of the channel-forming domain of the protein Vpu from HIV-1 in phospholipid bilayers with their normals at angles of 0 degrees, 20 degrees, 40 degrees, and 90 degrees, and bicelles with their normals at angles of 0 degrees and 90 degrees with respect to the direction of the applied magnetic field. This could only occur if the entire polypeptide undergoes rotational diffusion about the bilayer normal. Comparisons between experimental and simulated spectra are consistent with a rotational diffusion coefficient (DR) of approximately 10(5)s-1.     

Influence of rotational diffusion of the Mössbauer spectrum of ultrafine particles in a supercooled liquid

The theory of the Mössbauer line shape of ultrafine particles in a liquid has been developed taking into account both translational and rotational diffusion of the particles. A simple analytical expression has been found for the line shape in the limiting case of fast rotational diffusion. In this limit the line shape appears to be independent of the rotational diffusion constant apart from a constant and a scaling factor. The quadrupole splitting remains visible even in this limiting case in contrast to the case of molecular rotation diffusion spectra. The predictions of the theory are compared with experimental spectra of nanosize iron oxide particles dispersed in supercooled decalin where a rapid decrease of the total area with increasing temperature has been found. The present theory can account for a part of the observed loss of spectral area. It is also demonstrated that the uncertainty in the determination of the total area and diffusion constants from the Mössbauer spectra increases significantly when the rotational diffusion is taken into account.     

用NMR方法测定聚合物长侧基转动扩散系数

提出了一种测定聚合物溶液及有机固体中长侧基转动扩散系数的NMR方法,即先导出聚合物溶液和固体中长侧基运动的相关函数和谱密度函数,然后利用¹³C自旋弛豫数据求出扩散系数.同时还讨论了两个应用实例.     

Rotational correlation functions of single molecules

Single molecule rotational correlation functions are analyzed for several reorientation geometries. Even for the simplest model of isotropic rotational diffusion our findings predict nonexponential correlation functions to be observed by polarization sensitive single molecule fluorescence microscopy. This may have a deep impact on interpreting the results of molecular reorientation measurements in heterogeneous environments.     

Solvation and Rotational Diffusion of Solutes in Room Temperature Ionic Liquids as Studied by EPR Spectroscopy with Nitroxide Spin Probing Method

In this article, we briefly introduced our studies on solvation and rotational diffusion of solutes in room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) by electron paramagnetic resonance with nitroxide spin probing method. Most of the rotational correlation times for the nitroxide radicals are within the range calculated on the basis of Stokes–Einstein–Debye hydrodynamic theory with stick and slip boundary conditions or Gierer–Wirtz theory except for smaller solutes in some RTILs with smaller BF₄ and PF₆ anions. In RTILs with 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium as cation and BF₄ or PF₆ as anion, nitroxide radicals undergo rotational diffusion like supercooled liquids and nitroxide radical with smaller volume rotationally slips.     

The effects of chain segment motion on ionic diffusion in solid polymer electrolytes

The “vehicular effects” of chain segment motion on ionic diffusion in solid polymer electrolytes have been investigated via numerical simulation on a two-dimensional square lattice where the dynamical variation of chain configuration is presented by translational or rotational bond movement. It is found that (a) both types of bond motion promote continuous diffusion when the fraction (p) of available bonds is below the static percolation threshold of p=0.5 in two dimensions; (b) translational motion of bonds parallel to the direction of diffusion produces larger diffusion coefficients (D) than that by random renewal of the dynamic bond percolation model (DBPM), while the perpendicular motion or rotational motion gives smaller values of D; (c) Smooth lines instead of “stair-case like” curves generated by DBPM are obtained in the mean-squared displacement versus time plot, when bonds are shifting along the diffusion route. The dependence of diffusion coefficients on the variation of motion patterns of bonds is expected to be related to the temperature change under which these patterns are excited accordingly, such that VTF behavior of certain polymer electrolytes may be deduced.     

Origins of nonexponential decay in single molecule measurements of rotational dynamics

Recent reports have demonstrated that the correlation function of the fluorescence dichroism signal, measured as a probe of single molecule rotational dynamics, should not manifest a single exponential decay even for isotropic diffusion. This has called into question the attribution of observed nonexponential behavior in supercooled fluids and polymer systems to dynamical heterogeneity. We show here that, for the case of a high numerical aperture objective, the dichroism decay becomes indistinguishable from a single exponential. As a consequence, observed nonexponential decays can be associated with complex rotational dynamics. These effects are illustrated via simulated rotational trajectories for isotropic diffusion of a dipole.     

A Bayesian statistical method for the detection and quantification of rotational diffusion anisotropy from NMR relaxation data

It has recently become more widely appreciated that the presence of rotational diffusional anisotropy in proteins and other macromolecules can have a significant affect on the interpretation of NMR relaxation data in terms of molecular motion. In this paper, we show how commonly used NMR relaxation data (R(1), R(2), and NOE) obtained at two spectrometer frequencies can be analyzed using a Bayesian statistical approach to reliably detect and quantify the degree of rotational diffusion anisotropy. Our approach differs from previous methods in that it does not make assumptions concerning the internal motions experienced by the residues which are used to quantify the diffusion anisotropy, but rather averages the results over all internal motions consistent with the data. We demonstrate our method using synthetic data corresponding to isotropic, axially symmetric anisotropic, and fully asymmetric anisotropic rotational diffusion, as well as experimental NMR data. We compare the Bayesian statistical approach with a widely used method for extracting tumbling parameters using both synthetic and experimental data. While it can be difficult to separate the effects of chemical exchange from rotational anisotropy using this "standard" method, these effects are readily separated using Bayesian statistics. In addition, we find that the Bayesian statistical approach requires considerably less CPU time than an equivalent standard analysis.     

Anisotropic rotational diffusion model calculations of spin-rotation interaction in fluids of asymmetric-top molecules

The spin-lattice relaxation time, T ₁, due to the spin-rotation interaction in fluids of asymmetric-top molecules are calculated by using the rotational diffusion equation of Favro. In the rotational diffusion model, T ₁ is expressed in terms of three principal rotational diffusional constants. The results of the present calculation should aid interpretations of the experimental T ₁ data of fluids of asymmetric-top molecules.     

Dipole moment and far infra-red absorption of quinuclidine (1-aza-bicyclo-[2-2-2]-octane)

Incoherent quasi-elastic neutron-scattering spectra have been measured on powder samples of D-BPBAC in its smectic E, B and A phases using the high-resolution backscattering technique. The data have been analysed in terms of translational diffusion and a localized rotational motion. It has been found that the apparent translational diffusion constant has a temperature dependent value of ～1 × 10^-6 cm² s^-1 in the smectic A phase but is smaller by at least an order of magnitude in the smectic B and E phases. Comparison of the widths of the rotational components of the spectra with other measurements suggests that simple rotational models are not adequate to explain the experimental data.     

A CNDO/2 calculation on the radical formed on electron irradiation of mesitylene

Mori's method is applied to the calculation of the collective molecular orientation correlation functions which are of interest in light scattering and dielectric relaxation. The case of liquids composed of asymmetric top molecules is discussed. For the collective variables, the usual ‘rotational diffusion’ assumptions do not yield the single-particle rotational diffusion results unless there exists no orientational order in the medium. This point is discussed with regard to the results of some recent light scattering and dielectric relaxation experiments.