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Published on: July 28, 2023
Gradual Crossover from Subdiffusion to Normal Diffusion: A Many-Body Effect in Protein Surface Water
Pan Tan1,2, Yihao Liang1,2, Qin Xu3
1School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
Abstract:
Dynamics of hydration water is essential for the function of biomacromolecules. Previous studies have demonstrated that water molecules exhibit subdiffusion on the surface of biomacromolecules; yet the microscopic mechanism remains vague. Here, by performing neutron scattering, molecular dynamics simulations, and analytic modeling on hydrated perdeuterated protein powders, we found water molecules jump randomly between trapping sites on protein surfaces, whose waiting times obey a broad distribution, resulting in subdiffusion. Moreover, the subdiffusive exponent gradually increases with observation time towards normal diffusion due to a many-body volume-exclusion effect.
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