  In our last paper, we have reported the direct interact between energetic
ions and DNA, and its components, pointing out that damage to DNA is actually
of highest biological consequence, as the integrity of DNA sequence is
essential for biological function. Proteins are another kind of important
biomolecules. Although much recent attention has been payed to ion irradiation
initiated reaction cascades leading to DNA damage, the protein lesions induced
by energetic ions remain virtually unexplored at the molecular scale (maybe
because there are usually many copies of each protein, so a comparable level of
damage is of much less biological impact). Except for DNA damage, an
understanding of nascent events leading to radiolytic protein damage is also
required in order to achieve a complete description of ionizing radiation
effects on living cells.
