Optically detected Electron Paramagnetic Resonance of Metalloproteins

Abstract

Metalloproteins, that is proteins containing metal ions, play a key role in biochemical processess. This thesis presents a novel spectroscopic technique, optically detected electron paramagnetic resonance (ODEPR) spectroscopy, which can be applied to the study of metalloproteins. In this work experimental results from different biological samples are presented, where we focus on the copper protein azurin and the iron-sulfurprotein rubredoxin. In addition, the ODEPR spectra are interpreted by means of a theoretical model, which leads to the determination of key parameters such as the optical polarisation of the involved transitions. This thesis demonstrates that ODEPR spectroscopy can serve to improve our understanding of the electronic structure of metalloproteins, and to complement standard spectroscopy methods.