@article{HoffmannKaneNettelsetal.2007, author = {Hoffmann, Armin S. and Kane, Avinash S. and Nettels, Daniel and Hertzog, David E. and Baumg{\"a}rtel, Peter and Lengefeld, Jan and Reichardt, Gerd and Horsley, David A. and Seckler, Robert and Bakajin, Olgica and Schuler, Benjamin}, title = {Mapping protein collapse with single molecule fluorescence and kinetic synchrotron radiation circular dichroism spectroscopy}, issn = {0027-8424}, year = {2007}, language = {en} } @article{KaneHoffmannBaumgaerteletal.2008, author = {Kane, Avinash S. and Hoffmann, Armin S. and Baumg{\"a}rtel, Peter and Seckler, Robert and Reichardt, Gerd and Horsley, David A. and Schuler, Benjamin and Bakajin, Olgica}, title = {Microfluidic mixers for the investigation of rapid protein folding kinetics using synchrotron radiation circular dichroism spectroscopy}, issn = {0003-2700}, year = {2008}, abstract = {We have developed a microfluidic mixer optimized for rapid measurements of protein folding kinetics using synchrotron radiation circular dichroism (SRCD) spectroscopy. The combination of fabrication in fused silica and synchrotron radiation allows measurements at wavelengths below 220 nm, the typical limit of commercial instrumentation. At these wavelengths, the discrimination between the different types of protein secondary structure increases sharply. The device was optimized for rapid mixing at moderate sample consumption by employing a serpentine channel design, resulting in a dead time of less than 200 ;s. Here, we discuss the design and fabrication of the mixer and quantify the mixing efficiency using wide-field and confocal epi-fluorescence microscopy. We demonstrate the performance of the device in SRCD measurements of the folding kinetics of cytochrome c, a small, fast-folding protein. Our results show that the combination of SRCD with microfluidic mixing opens new possibilities for investigating rapid conformational changes in biological macromolecules that have previously been inaccessible.}, language = {en} } @article{NettelsMuellerSpaethKuesteretal.2009, author = {Nettels, Daniel and M{\"u}ller-Sp{\"a}th, Sonja and K{\"u}ster, Frank and Hofmann, Hagen and Haenni, Domminik and R{\"u}egger, Stefan and Reymond, Luc and Hoffmann, Armin S. and Kubelka, Jan and Heinz, Benjamin and Gast, Klaus and Best, Robert B. and Schuler, Benjamin}, title = {Single-molecule spectroscopy of the temperature-induced collapse of unfolded proteins}, issn = {0027-8424}, year = {2009}, abstract = {We used single-molecule FRET in combination with other biophysical methods and molecular simulations to investigate the effect of temperature on the dimensions of unfolded proteins. With singlemolecule FRET, this question can be addressed even under nearnative conditions, where most molecules are folded, allowing us to probe a wide range of denaturant concentrations and temperatures. We find a compaction of the unfolded state of a small cold shock protein with increasing temperature in both the presence and the absence of denaturant, with good agreement between the results from single-molecule FRET and dynamic light scattering. Although dissociation of denaturant from the polypeptide chain with increasing temperature accounts for part of the compaction, the results indicate an important role for additional temperaturedependent interactions within the unfolded chain. The observation of a collapse of a similar extent in the extremely hydrophilic, intrinsically disordered protein prothymosin suggests that the hydrophobic effect is not the sole source of the underlying interactions. Circular dichroism spectroscopy and replica exchange molecular dynamics simulations in explicit water show changes in secondary structure content with increasing temperature and suggest a contribution of intramolecular hydrogen bonding to unfolded state collapse.}, language = {en} }