ANALYSIS OF LIGAND-BINDING TO HEME-PROTEINS USING A FLUCTUATING PATH DESCRIPTION

We use the dominant survival path approximation to treat in detail the CO-Mb rebinding process. We develop best-fit parameters which describ e the distributed barriers and their relaxation and fluctuations. The results are in good agreement with the experimental data. The phenomen ological parameters from the current model are compared with those fro m previous treatments. The limitations of the model and its comparison with more elaborate models taking into account taxonomic substates ar e discussed.