(a) Effect of HCl (solid line, pH 7.7; dashed line, pH
2.0) on the absorption spectrum of 5 mM aqueous rhodamine B solution.
(Inset) Fluorescence-emission spectra of 40 μM TMRIA
solution at pH 7.0 and 1.0. (λex = 550 nm.)
(b) Absorption spectrum of TMRIA-labeled titin as a
function of pH. (b Inset)
OD518/OD555 ratio, obtained from the
absorption spectra of TMRIA-labeled titin, as a function of pH.
(c) Confocal microscopic image of surface-adsorbed,
fluorescently labeled titin molecules before (pH 7.7,
Upper) and after (Lower) the addition of
a pH 2.0 buffer solution. (d) Mean fluorescence
intensity obtained for an ensemble of surface-adsorbed titin molecules
as a function of time after acidic denaturation (at HCl, pH 2.0) and
the addition of 5.5 M GdnHCl (at GdnHCl). The pH of the GdnHCl solution
was 7.7. Data points represent mean ± SEM for an average of 187
molecules per field of view. Data were normalized to the average of the
first five points that represent control settings.