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Allosteric kinetics and equilibria differ for carbon monoxide and oxygen binding to hemoglobin
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Allosteric kinetics and equilibria differ for carbon monoxide and oxygen binding to hemoglobin

N. Q Zhang, F. A Ferrone and A. J Martino
Biophysical journal, v 58(2), pp 333-340
Aug 1990
PMID: 2207241
url
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3495(90)82380-8View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

We have measured the forward and reverse rates of the allosteric transition between R (relaxed) and T (tense) quaternary structures for oxyhemoglobin A from which a single oxygen molecule was removed in pH 7, phosphate buffer, using the method of modulated excitation (Ferrone, F.A., and J.J. Hopfield. 1976. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 73:4497-4501 and Ferrone, F.A., A.J. Martino, and S. Basak. 1985. Biophys. J. 48:269-282). Despite the low quantum yield, which necessitated large light levels and an associated temperature rise, the data was of superior quality to the equivalent experiment with CO as a ligand, permitting comparison between the allosteric behavior of hemoglobin with different ligands. Qualitatively, the T structure is favored more strongly in triligated oxyhemoglobin than triligated carboxyhemoglobin. The rates for the allosteric transition with oxygen bound were essentially temperature independent, whereas for CO both the R---T and T---R rates increased with temperature, having an activation energy of 2.2 and 2.8 kcal, respectively. The R---T rate was higher for O2 than for CO being 3 x 10(3) s-1 vs. 1.6 x 10(3) s-1 for HbCO at 25 degrees C. The T---R rate for HbO2 was only 2 x 10(3) s-1, vs 4.2 x 10(3) s-1 for HbCO, giving an equilibrium constant between the structures greater than unity (L3 = 1.5). The data suggest that there may be some allosteric inequality between the subunits, but do not require (or rule out) ligand binding heterogeneity. The ligand-dependent differences are compatible with stereochemical studies of HbCO and HbO2. However,the large population of T species with three oxygen molecules bound is much greater than predicted by precision equilibrium studies and a generalized Szabo-Karplus model (Lee, A. W., M. Karplus, C. Poyart, and E. Bursaux. 1988. Biochemistry.27:1285-1301) or by the allosteric model of DiCera (Di Cera, E., C. H. Robert, and S. J. Gill. 1987. Biochemistry.26:4003-4008).

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