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Updated: Jul 11, 2026

Fluorescence Anisotropy as a Tool to Study Protein-protein Interactions
Published on: October 21, 2016
NO-bound myoglobin: structural diversity and dynamics of the NO ligand
Tomasz Zemojtel1, Matteo Rini, Karsten Heyne
1Department of Bioinformatics, University of Wuerzburg, Am Hubland, D-97074 Wuerzburg, Germany. zemojtel@biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de
Abstract:
We used femtosecond infrared polarization spectroscopy and density functional theory in a study on the key signaling molecule nitric oxide (NO) bound to myoglobin. Our results show that after photolysis, a substantial fraction of NO recombines within the first few picoseconds. We discovered that the diatomic ligand is severely tilted in the protein and present evidence that the Fe-NO moiety can sample a wide range of off-axis tilting and bending conformations.
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