Light-induced conformational changes of protein receptors probed by difference mid-IR microspectroscopy
04 Pubblicazione in atti di convegno
Giliberti V., Polito R., Ritter E., Nucara A., Calvani P., Broser M., Hegemann P., Puskar L., Schade U., Baldassarre L., Ortolani M.
ISSN: 2162-2027
We apply mid-infrared absorption microspectroscopy to investigate the light-induced conformational changes of bacteriorhodopsin embedded in native purple membranes deposited on gold substrates. The difference spectra (visible light ON-visible light OFF) obtained on thin films of bacteriorhodopsin display main spectral features connected to the light-induced proton pump process, representing a promising preliminary step towards the investigation of light-sensitive proteins by means of mid-IR tip-enhanced nanospectroscopy.