Ultrafast cooling reveals microsecond-scale biomolecular dynamics

Mark E. Polinkovsky, Yann Gambin, Priya R. Banerjee, Michael J. Erickstad, Alex Groisman () and Ashok A. Deniz ()
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Mark E. Polinkovsky: University of California, San Diego
Yann Gambin: The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, USA
Priya R. Banerjee: The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, USA
Michael J. Erickstad: University of California, San Diego
Alex Groisman: University of California, San Diego
Ashok A. Deniz: The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, USA

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract The temperature-jump technique, in which the sample is rapidly heated by a powerful laser pulse, has been widely used to probe the fast dynamics of folding of proteins and nucleic acids. However, the existing temperature-jump setups tend to involve sophisticated and expensive instrumentation, while providing only modest temperature changes of ~10–15 °C, and the temperature changes are only rapid for heating, but not cooling. Here we present a setup comprising a thermally conductive sapphire substrate with light-absorptive nano-coating, a microfluidic device and a rapidly switched moderate-power infrared laser with the laser beam focused on the nano-coating, enabling heating and cooling of aqueous solutions by ~50 °C on a 1-μs time scale. The setup is used to probe folding and unfolding dynamics of DNA hairpins after direct and inverse temperature jumps, revealing low-pass filter behaviour during periodic temperature variations.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6737

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