S. Hogiu et al., DYNAMIC AND THERMODYNAMIC EFFECTS OF GLYCEROL ON BOVINE SERUM-ALBUMININ AQUEOUS-SOLUTION - A TRYPTOPHAN PHOSPHORESCENCE STUDY, Journal of photochemistry and photobiology.B, Biology, 40(1), 1997, pp. 55-60
The phosphorescence decay of bovine serum albumin in water-glycerol so
lutions at room temperature is analysed by the maximum entropy method.
While in pure water the decay was found to be quasi-monoexponential,
in water-glycerol mixtures it is associated with more complex lifetime
distributions. This is a direct proof for the existence of multiple p
rotein conformers, It was also found that the increase of the glycerol
concentration induces a continuous shift of the lifetime pattern to l
onger lifetimes. This effect is analysed in connection with the coupli
ng between the solvent viscosity and the internal protein mobility. (C
) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.