It is well known that heating can denature proteins. However, what does happen to proteins in the case of short and ultrashort (microsecond or nanosecond scale) heating to extreme temperatures (100-1000 degrees of Celsius) ? Such heating occurs for example when applying ultra/short laser pulses or pulsed intense electric fields.
At these short times proteins can withstand much higher temperatures. For example, gelatin gel (5-10 %w/v) remains solid when heated to 500-700 degrees C by IR radiation of microsecond duration. Instead, explosive evaporation of water will occur with mechanical damage to the tissue, possibly breakdown plasma cascades. The paper below LITERALLY has it all. Also you may read about Arrhenius integral which is a measure of thermal damage to macromolecules.Article Mechanisms of Pulsed Laser Ablation of Biological Tissues
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