Publications [#304362] of David N. Beratan

Journal Articles

  1. Lin, J; Balabin, IA; Beratan, DN, "The nature of aqueous tunneling pathways between electron-transfer proteins.", Science (New York, N.Y.)November,, 2005, 310(5752), 1311-1313 [16311331], [doi].
    (last updated on 2026/01/17)

    Abstract:
    Structured water molecules near redox cofactors were found recently to accelerate electron-transfer (ET) kinetics in several systems. Theoretical study of interprotein electron transfer across an aqueous interface reveals three distinctive electronic coupling mechanisms that we describe here: (i) a protein-mediated regime when the two proteins are in van der Waals contact; (ii) a structured water-mediated regime featuring anomalously weak distance decay at relatively close protein-protein contact distances; and (iii) a bulk water-mediated regime at large distances. Our analysis explains a range of otherwise puzzling biological ET kinetic data and provides a framework for including explicit water-mediated tunneling effects on ET kinetics.