Collective oscillations of proteins proven by terahertz spectroscopy in aqueous medium

Abstract

Understanding the forces that enable protein interactions is a major scientific challenge. Indeed, Brownian diffusion alone, which is usually considered as the main engine of protein dynamics, does not explain the rapidity and efficiency of the biomolecular reactions at works in cells. In this work, we will present observations of the collective oscillations of a model protein driven out-of-equilibrium by means of optical excitation in aqueous medium using terahertz spectroscopy.