Three allosteric states are required to describe the relaxation of (carbon monoxy) hemoglobin following flash photolysis. Combined absorbance and fluorescence probes were used. The absorbance signals consist of a component corresponding to ligand recombination and a component for the R-T transition. The fluorescence of 8-hydroxy-1,3,6-pyrenetrisulfonate (HPT), an analogue of 2,3-diphosphoglycerate, shows rates and amplitudes correlated with the absorbance transients. Measurements were made at pII 6, 6.5, and 7.0 at CO partial pressures of 0.1 and 1 atm. The fractional photolysis was varied in each case to change the initial distribution of the R states. Data show an immediate absorbance change due to ligand dissociation, while the changes in the ligand isosbestic and the fluorescence signals occur with time constants of 80 microseconds (at pH 6.5). The signals then show a biphasic return to equilibrium, characteristic of the allosteric system. The measurements provide three independent probes of the kinetics of the substates of hemoglobin. Although the ligand binding data can be generally represented by a two-state model, the fluorescence data require T states with different affinities for HPT.
Protoheme-CO in aqueous solution does not exhibit a geminate ligand recombination reaction. Addition of a protein, either globin or serum albumin, to which heme binds strongly, leads to an observable geminate reaction in aqueous solution. The bimolecular kinetic data for the albumin-heme-CO complex show two stable components, one heme-like in rate and difference spectrum, and one hemoglobin-like. The geminate reaction correlates spectrally with the hemoglobin-like component.
It is known that the bioluminescent reaction with enzyme prepared from the bacterium Photobacteriumfischeri proceeds via several intermediates, some of which, at least, are relatively long-lived.1 The turnover number of 4 per min at 100C is, indeed, apparently the lowest which has been recorded for any enzyme.The experiments presented in this and in the paper to appear in the January issue of the PROCEEDINGS provide evidence for a new theory of the molecular mechanism of bioluminescence. It is proposed that electronic energy derived from the chemical reaction is stored in a long-lived high-energy enzyme species (designated as +Enz) and that an excited state Enz* is generated by an appropriate release of this stored energy.
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