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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 1999  > March  >
In the Laboratory
Resonance Energy Transfer in Peptides: A Biophysical Laboratory Experiment
Anne M. Hundzinski and Bruce D. Anderson
Department of Chemistry, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA 18104

Cover
March 1999
Vol. 76 No. 3
p. 416

Abstract
Fluorescence excitation and absorption spectra are used to calculate the efficiency of resonance energy transfer and the distance between two chromophores within a small peptide. In this investigation, tyrosine is the donor chromophore and tryptophan is the acceptor chromophore. The experimentally obtained distances are compared to those calculated using a molecular modeling program. The experimental distances are generally in good agreement with the distance obtained when the modeling program assumes the peptide is in a b-sheet conformation. The choice of reference peptide is an important part of the experiment. The reference peptide should be analogous to the peptide being studied except that tyrosine is replaced with an amino acid that does not absorb or fluoresce in the region of interest. The experiment described is appropriate for use as an undergraduate laboratory experiment in physical chemistry or biochemistry.
More Information
*  Citation
Hundzinski, Anne M.; Anderson, Bruce D. J. Chem. Educ. 1999 76 416.
*  Keywords
Laboratory Instruction; Biophysical Chemistry; Excited States / Energy Transfer; Molecular Modeling / Dynamics; Proteins / Peptides
*  History
Created:
Last Updated:
June 15, 1999
June 22, 2005
  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 1999 > March > Page 416


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