Studies on photoreceptors provide a wealth of information on cofactor and protein dynamics on the microsecond to seconds time-scale. Up to now, ultrafast dynamics addresses mainly the cofactor or chromophore, but ultrafast protein dynamics are poorly understood. Increasing evidence show that protein responses can occur even faster than the cofactor dynamics. The causal reason for the ultrafast protein response cannot be explained by the localized cofactor excitation or its excited-state decay, alone. We propose a Coulomb interaction mechanism started by a shock wave and stabilized by a dipole moment change at least partially responsible for coherent oscillations in proteins, protonation changes, water dislocations, and protein changes prior to and beyond chromophore’s excited-state decay. Photoexcitation changes the electron density distribution of the chromophore within a few femtoseconds: The Coulomb shock wave affects polar groups, hydrogen bonds, and protein bound water molecules. The process occurs on a time-scale even faster than excited-state decay of the chromophore. We discuss studies on selected photoreceptors in light of this mechanism and its impact on a detailed understanding of protein dynamics.
