Fast enzyme dynamics at the active site of formate dehydrogenase.

The role of femtosecond-picosecond structural dynamics of proteins in enzyme-catalyzed reactions is a hotly debated topic. We report infrared photon echo measurement of the formate dehydrogenase-NAD+-azide ternary complex. In contrast to earlier studies of protein dynamics, the data show complete spectral diffusion on the femtosecond-picosecond time scale with no static heterogeneity. This result indicates that this transition-state analogue complex completely samples the distribution of structures that determine the distribution of azide vibrational frequencies within a few picoseconds and that there are no slower motions that perturb the H-bond network at the active site.