Single-protein spin resonance spectroscopy under ambient conditions
Science 6 March 2015:
Vol. 347 no. 6226 pp. 1135-1138
DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa2253
- REPORT
Single-protein spin resonance spectroscopy under ambient conditions
- Fazhan Shi1,2,3,*,
- Qi Zhang1,2,*,
- Pengfei Wang1,2,3,*,
- Hongbin Sun4,
- Jiarong Wang4,
- Xing Rong1,2,3,
- Ming Chen1,2,
- Chenyong Ju1,2,3,
- Friedemann Reinhard5,†,
- Hongwei Chen4,
- Jörg Wrachtrup5,
- Junfeng Wang4,
- Jiangfeng Du1,2,3,‡
Magnetic resonance is essential in revealing the structure and dynamics of biomolecules. However, measuring the magnetic resonance spectrum of single biomolecules has remained an elusive goal. We demonstrate the detection of the electron spin resonance signal from a single spin-labeled protein under ambient conditions. As a sensor, we use a single nitrogen vacancy center in bulk diamond in close proximity to the protein. We measure the orientation of the spin label at the protein and detect the impact of protein motion on the spin label dynamics. In addition, we coherently drive the spin at the protein, which is a prerequisite for studies involving polarization of nuclear spins of the protein or detailed structure analysis of the protein itself.