Rapid relaxation processes in pig heart lipoamide dehydrogenase revealed by subnanosecond resolved fluorometry

The decay kinetics of the FAD-fluorescence in lipoamide dehydrogenase from pig heart have been reinvestigated using phase fluorometric methods and sophisticated laser pulse techniques. Both pulse and modulation methods lead to distinct heterogeneity in lifetimes. The two different techniques lead to good correspondence in the longer lifetime component of a biexponential decay model, whereas the more rapidly decaying component is distinctly shorter and has a larger amplitude using the phase technique with two available modulation frequencies (15 and 60 MHz). Lifetime measurements as a function of temperature and in the presence of D₂O instead of H₂O illustrate that the quenching of the FAD fluorescence in lipoamide. dehydrogenase is mainly dynamic in nature and that solvent comes into contact with the fluorophor. Mobility of the flavin itself, free and bound to the enzyme, has been measured by both differential polarized phase fluorometry and experimental fluorescence anisotropy decay after ps laser pulse excitation. By employing flavin models it has been shown that both techniques have ps time resolution. Measurements with the latter more direct method indicate a rapid subnanosecond motion of the FAD bound within the enzyme, only visible at temperatures lower than about 15°C, where the protein rotational diffusion is slowed down. The significance of rapid transient conformational fluctuations for catalysis is discussed with reference to recently developed insights reported in the literature.