Resolving controversy of unusually high refractive index of a tubulin

0484852 - ÚFE 2018 RIV FR eng J - Článek v odborném periodiku
Krivosudský, Ondrej - Dráber, Pavel - Cifra, Michal
Resolving controversy of unusually high refractive index of a tubulin.
EPL. Roč. 117, č. 3 (2017), č. článku 38003. ISSN 0295-5075. E-ISSN 1286-4854
Grant CEP: GA ČR(CZ) GA15-17102S; GA ČR GA16-25159S
Grant ostatní: AV ČR(CZ) SAV-15-22
Program: Bilaterální spolupráce
Institucionální podpora: RVO:67985882 ; RVO:68378050
Klíčová slova: protein * resonance * microtubules
Obor OECD: Optics (including laser optics and quantum optics); Developmental biology (UMG-J)
Impakt faktor: 1.834, rok: 2017

The refractive index of a tubulin is an important parameter underlying fundamental electromagnetic and biophysical properties of microtubules - protein fibers essential for several cell functions including cell division. Yet, the only experimental data available in the current literature show values of the tubulin refractive index (n = 2.36-2.90) which are much higher than what the established theories predict based on the weighted contribution of the polarizability of individual amino acids constituting the protein. To resolve this controversy, we report here modeling and rigorous experimental analysis of the refractive index of a purified tubulin dimer. Our experimental data revealed that the refractive index of the tubulin is n = 1.64 at wavelength 589 nm and 25 degrees C, that is much closer to the values predicted by the established theories than what the earlier experimental data provide
Trvalý link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0279994