Coherent X-ray Scattering Reveals Nanoscale Fluctuations in Hydrated Proteins.

Hydrated proteins undergo a transition in the deeply supercooled regime, which is attributed to rapid changes in hydration water and protein structural dynamics. Here, we investigate the nanoscale stress-relaxation in hydrated lysozyme proteins stimulated and probed by X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (XPCS). This approach allows us to access the nanoscale dynamics in the deeply supercooled regime (T = 180 K), which is typically not accessible through equilibrium methods. The observed stimulated dynamic response is attributed to collective stress-relaxation as the system transitions from a jammed granular state to an elastically driven regime. The relaxation time constants exhibit Arrhenius temperature dependence upon cooling with a minimum in the Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts exponent at T = 227 K. The observed minimum is attributed to an increase in dynamical heterogeneity, which coincides with enhanced fluctuations observed in the two-time correlation functions and a maximum in the dynamic susceptibility quantified by the normalized variance χT. The amplification of fluctuations is consistent with previous studies of hydrated proteins, which indicate the key role of density and enthalpy fluctuations in hydration water. Our study provides new insights into X-ray stimulated stress-relaxation and the underlying mechanisms behind spatiotemporal fluctuations in biological granular materials.

Reaction rate constant for radiative association of CF(.).

Reaction rate constants and cross sections are computed for the radiative association of carbon cations (C(+)) and fluorine atoms (F) in their ground states. We consider reactions through the electronic transition 1(1)Π â†’ X(1)Σ(+) and rovibrational transitions on the X(1)Σ(+) and a(3)Π potentials. Semiclassical and classical methods are used for the direct contribution and Breit-Wigner theory for the resonance contribution. Quantum mechanical perturbation theory is used for comparison. A modified formulation of the classical method applicable to permanent dipoles of unequally charged reactants is implemented. The total rate constant is fitted to the Arrhenius-Kooij formula in five temperature intervals with a relative difference of <3%. The fit parameters will be added to the online database KIDA. For a temperature of 10-250 K, the rate constant is about 10(-21) cm(3) s(-1), rising toward 10(-16) cm(3) s(-1) for a temperature of 30,000 K.