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The Orientation Factor in Single‐Molecule Förster‐Type Resonance Energy Transfer, with Examples for Conformational Transitions in Proteins
Author(s) -
Yang Haw
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
israel journal of chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.908
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1869-5868
pISSN - 0021-2148
DOI - 10.1560/ijc.49.3-4.313
Subject(s) - förster resonance energy transfer , chemistry , single molecule fret , excited state , molecule , chromophore , resonance (particle physics) , acceptor , orientation (vector space) , chemical physics , molecular physics , atomic physics , fluorescence , quantum mechanics , physics , photochemistry , geometry , mathematics , organic chemistry
Incertitude in the orientation factor, κ 2 , in Förster‐type resonance energy transfer (FRET) has thus far hindered the evaluation of donor–acceptor distances in single‐molecule measurements. In part, the confusion arises from directly applying ideas developed for ensemble‐averaged experiments. By carefully considering the fundamental difference between single‐molecule and bulk measurements, it is shown that, regardless of the excited‐state lifetime of the chromophores, the idealized value of 2/3 is a very good approximation (within 10% relative error) for a broad range of parameter space for single‐molecule FRET applications. Implications for interpreting and designing single‐molecule FRET experiments are also discussed.