Heme Orientation of Cavity Mutant Hemoglobins (His F8 → Gly) in Either α or ß Subunits: Circular Dichroism, (1) H NMR, and Resonance Raman Studies.

Native human adult hemoglobin (Hb A) has mostly normal orientation of heme, whereas recombinant Hb A (rHb A) expressed in E. coli contains both normal and reversed orientations of heme. Hb A with the normal heme exhibits positive circular dichroism (CD) bands at both the Soret and 260-nm regions, while rHb A with the reversed heme shows a negative Soret and decreased 260-nm CD bands. In order to examine involvement of the proximal histidine (His F8) of either α or ß subunits in determining the heme orientation, we prepared two cavity mutant Hbs, rHb(αH87G) and rHb(ßH92G), with substitution of glycine for His F8 in the presence of imidazole. CD spectra of both cavity mutant Hbs did not show a negative Soret band, but instead exhibited positive bands with strong intensity at the both Soret and 260-nm regions, suggesting that the reversed heme scarcely exists in the cavity mutant Hbs. We confirmed by (1) H NMR and resonance Raman (RR) spectroscopies that the cavity mutant Hbs have mainly the normal heme orientation in both the mutated and native subunits. These results indicate that the heme Fe-His F8 linkage in both α and ß subunits influences the heme orientation, and that the heme orientation of one type of subunit is related to the heme orientation of the complementary subunits to be the same. The present study showed that CD and RR spectroscopies also provided powerful tools for the examination of the heme rotational disorder of Hb A, in addition to the usual (1) H NMR technique. Chirality 28:585-592, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Differences in coordination states of substituted tyrosine residues and quaternary structures among hemoglobin M probed by resonance Raman spectroscopy.

Among the four types of hemoglobin (Hb) M with a substitution of a tyrosine (Tyr) for either the proximal (F8) or distal (E7) histidine in the alpha or beta subunits, only Hb M Saskatoon (betaE7Tyr) assumes a hexacoordinate structure and its abnormal subunits can be reduced readily by methemoglobin (metHb) reductase. This is distinct from the other three M Hbs. To gain new insight into the cause of the difference, we examined the ionization states of E7 and F8 Tyrs by UV resonance Raman (RR) spectroscopy and Fe-O(Tyr) bonding by visible RR spectroscopy. Hb M Iwate (alphaF8Tyr), Hb M Boston (alphaE7Tyr), and Hb M Hyde Park (betaF8Tyr) exhibited two extra UV RR bands at 1,603 cm(-1) (Y8a') and 1,167 cm(-1) (Y9a') arising from deprotonated (ionized) Tyr, but Hb M Saskatoon displayed the UV RR bands of protonated (unionized) Tyr at 1,620 and 1,175 cm(-1) in addition to those of deprotonated Tyr. Evidence for the bonding of both ionization states of Tyr to the heme in Hb M Saskatoon was provided by visible RR spectroscopy. These results indicate that betaE7Tyr of Hb M Saskatoon is in equilibrium between protonated and deprotonated forms, which is responsible for facile reducibility. Comparison of the UV RR spectral features of metHb M with that of metHb A has revealed that metHb M Saskatoon and metHb M Hyde Park are in the R (relaxed) structure, similar to that of metHb A, whereas metHb M Iwate, metHb M Boston and metHb M Milwaukee are in the T (tense) quaternary structure.

An Origin of Cooperative Oxygen Binding of Human Adult Hemoglobin: Different Roles of the α and ß Subunits in the α2ß2 Tetramer.

Human hemoglobin (Hb), which is an α2ß2 tetramer and binds four O2 molecules, changes its O2-affinity from low to high as an increase of bound O2, that is characterized by 'cooperativity'. This property is indispensable for its function of O2 transfer from a lung to tissues and is accounted for in terms of T/R quaternary structure change, assuming the presence of a strain on the Fe-histidine (His) bond in the T state caused by the formation of hydrogen bonds at the subunit interfaces. However, the difference between the α and ß subunits has been neglected. To investigate the different roles of the Fe-His(F8) bonds in the α and ß subunits, we investigated cavity mutant Hbs in which the Fe-His(F8) in either α or ß subunits was replaced by Fe-imidazole and F8-glycine. Thus, in cavity mutant Hbs, the movement of Fe upon O2-binding is detached from the movement of the F-helix, which is supposed to play a role of communication. Recombinant Hb (rHb)(αH87G), in which only the Fe-His in the α subunits is replaced by Fe-imidazole, showed a biphasic O2-binding with no cooperativity, indicating the coexistence of two independent hemes with different O2-affinities. In contrast, rHb(ßH92G), in which only the Fe-His in the ß subunits is replaced by Fe-imidazole, gave a simple high-affinity O2-binding curve with no cooperativity. Resonance Raman, 1H NMR, and near-UV circular dichroism measurements revealed that the quaternary structure change did not occur upon O2-binding to rHb(αH87G), but it did partially occur with O2-binding to rHb(ßH92G). The quaternary structure of rHb(αH87G) appears to be frozen in T while its tertiary structure is changeable. Thus, the absence of the Fe-His bond in the α subunit inhibits the T to R quaternary structure change upon O2-binding, but its absence in the ß subunit simply enhances the O2-affinity of α subunit.

Effect of reversed heme orientation on circular dichroism and cooperative oxygen binding of human adult hemoglobin.

We found that recombinant human adult hemoglobin (rHb A) expressed in Escherichia coli showed heterogeneity of components with the intensity of a positive CD band at 260 nm and that it could be resolved into three components (SP-1, SP-2, and SP-3) by SP-Sepharose column chromatography. 1H NMR revealed that SP-1 is identical with native Hb A, while SP-2 and SP-3 largely contain the reversed heme isomer in both the alpha and beta subunits, with contents of approximately 50 and >80% in SP-2 and SP-3, respectively. Rotation of the heme 180 degrees about the 5,15-meso axis (reversed heme) causes an interexchange of the methyl groups at positions 2 and 7 with the vinyl groups at positions 8 and 3, respectively. To examine the effect of the modification of the heme-protein contact on the structure and function of Hb A, we compared the 1H NMR, CD, and oxygen binding properties of the three components with those of native Hb A. Native Hb A exhibits a distinct positive CD band in both the near-UV and Soret regions, but rHb A with reversed heme exhibits a very weak positive CD band at 260 nm and a prominent negative CD band in the Soret region. Cooperativity, as measured by Hill's n value, decreased from 3.18 (SP-1) to 2.94 (SP-2) to 2.63 (SP-3) with an increase in the reversed heme orientation. The effect of an allosteric effector, inositol hexaphosphate (IHP), on the oxygen binding properties was also reduced in rHb A with reversed heme. These results indicate that changes in the heme-globin contact exert a discernible influence on CD spectra and cooperative oxygen binding.

Oxygenation properties of extracellular giant hemoglobin from Oligobrachia mashikoi.

Oxygenation properties of hemoglobin (Hb) from Oligobrachia mashikoi were extensively investigated. Compared to human Hb, Oligobrachia Hb showed a high oxygen affinity (P(50)=1.4 mmHg), low cooperativity (n =1.4), and a small Bohr effect (deltaH(+)=-0.28) at pH 7.4 in the presence of minimum salts. Addition of NaCl caused no change in the oxygenation properties of Oligobrachia Hb, indicating that Na(+) and Cl(-) had no effect. Mg(2+) and Ca(2+) remarkably increased the oxygen affinity and cooperativity. The dependence of the oxygen affinity on Ca(2+) concentration indicated that ca. 0.6 Ca(2+) per heme is bound to the protein moiety upon oxygen binding. CO(2) and a polyanion, inositol hexaphosphate, showed a null effect on the oxygenation properties. Thus, unlike the vertebrate Hbs, but like the annelid extracellular Hbs, the oxygen binding properties of Oligobrachia Hb are regulated by divalent cations which preferentially bind to the oxy form.