Charge motion in MbCO crystals after flash photolysis.

Charge motion accompanying the dissociation and recombination of carbon monoxide to oriented myoglobin crystals has been observed. The magnitude of the electrical signals detected after photodissociation by electrodes on either side of MbCO crystals of type A is consistent with the x-ray data showing that the doubly charged iron ion lies in the mean heme plane when a ligand is bound and moves out of the plane when deligated. Beyond 10 ms, the time development of the electrical signal is consistent with the kinetics observed optically after flash photolysis on the same crystals.