One‐ and two‐dimensional NMR investigations of the heme pocket in free α(CO) chains from human hemoglobin

Two‐dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance techniques were used to assign resonances corresponding to heme pocket residues of the isolated α(CO) subunits of the human adult hemoglobin (HbA). The assignment procedure was based on the partial identification of the amino acid spin system from the J ‐correlated (COSY) spectrum and on the nuclear Overhauser effect connectivities (from NOESY spectra) with the heme substituents. We present here partial assignments corresponding to five amino acid residues: Leu‐86, Leu‐91, Val‐93, Leu‐101 and Leu‐136. Starting from the known crystallographic structure of the α subunit in the hemoglobin tetramer, we applied a dipolar model to compute the ring‐current shift of the protons from fifteen amino acid residues in the heme pocket. Comparison of the predicted and observed chemical shifts suggests that there is a very close similarity between the heme pocket tertiary structure of the α(CO) subunits in crystals of HbA(CO) and of the free α(CO) chains. The one‐dimensional NMR spectra were used to monitor the pH‐induced structural changes, the effects of chemical modification and of ligand substitution. Upon increasing the pH from 5.6 to 9.0 the structure of the heme environment appears to be invariant with the exception of some residues in the CD corner. The structure is also largely conserved when p ‐chloromercuribenzoate is bound to Cys‐104. In contrast, the substitution of CO by O 2 as ligand induces many large changes in the heme cavity which can be partially characterized by NMR spectroscopy.