Annelid erythrocruorins are highly cooperative extracellular respiratory proteins with molecular masses on the order of 3.6 million Daltons. We report here the 3.5 A crystal structure of erythrocruorin from the earthworm Lumbricus terrestris. This structure reveals details of symmetrical and quasi-symmetrical interactions that dictate the self-limited assembly of 144 hemoglobin and 36 linker subunits. The linker subunits assemble into a core complex with D(6) symmetry onto which 12 hemoglobin dodecamers bind to form the entire complex. Although the three unique linker subunits share structural similarity, their interactions with each other and the hemoglobin subunits display striking diversity. The observed diversity includes design features that have been incorporated into the linker subunits and may be critical for efficient assembly of large quantities of this complex respiratory protein.

Protein allostery provides mechanisms for regulation of biological function at the molecular level. We present here an investigation of global, ligand-induced allosteric transition in a protein by time-resolved x-ray diffraction. The study provides a view of structural changes in single crystals of Scapharca dimeric hemoglobin as they proceed in real time, from 5 ns to 80 s after ligand photodissociation. A tertiary intermediate structure forms rapidly (<5 ns) as the protein responds to the presence of an unliganded heme within each R-state protein subunit, with key structural changes observed in the heme groups, neighboring residues, and interface water molecules. This intermediate lays a foundation for the concerted tertiary and quaternary structural changes that occur on a microsecond time scale and are associated with the transition to a low-affinity T-state structure. Reversal of these changes shows a considerable lag as a T-like structure persists well after ligand rebinding, suggesting a slow T-to-R transition.allosteric protein transitions ͉ intersubunit communication ͉ kinetics A fundamental goal in biology is to understand how organisms respond to environmental signals. Central to this process are allosteric proteins that undergo structural transitions between alternate states in response to stimuli such as ligand binding. Although static structures of alternate states are available for a number of allosteric proteins, information about the kinetic pathway between such functionally important states is limited. Time-resolved crystallographic analysis (1-9) provides the unique opportunity to obtain direct, time-dependent structural information at high resolution on the entire protein molecule as it undergoes structural change.Much of our understanding of allosteric protein function has come from investigations into mammalian hemoglobins. Evidence of substantial structural changes accompanying ligand binding dates back to the 1930s with the observation that unliganded, high-salt, hemoglobin crystals exposed to oxygen shatter (10), foreshadowing the discovery of large quaternary changes that are linked to oxygen binding (11). Unliganded crystals of human hemoglobin grown under certain low-salt conditions can maintain their integrity upon oxygen binding; however, oxygen binding in this case is noncooperative (12). Although the ability to follow allosteric transitions in the crystalline state is limited when such large quaternary structural changes accompany cooperative ligand binding, spectroscopic investigations of hemoglobin solutions have revealed some aspects of the kinetic pathway of allosteric structural transitions (13-15). Results to date suggest a multistep pathway, with key tertiary structural transitions taking place within a few microseconds and quaternary rearrangements occurring in the range of tens of microseconds. In addition to providing structural information on high-affinity R and low-affinity T quaternary forms at the atomic level (16-18), crystallographic experiments have also succeeded...

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Summary As in many other hemoglobins, no direct route for migration of ligands between solvent and active site is evident from crystal structures of Scapharca inaequivalvis dimeric HbI. Xenon (Xe) and organic halide binding experiments along with computational analysis presented here reveal protein cavities as potential ligand migration routes. Time-resolved crystallographic experiments show that photodissociated carbon monoxide (CO) docks within 5ns at the distal pocket B-site and at more remote Xe4 and Xe2 cavities. CO rebinding is not affected by the presence of dichloroethane within the major Xe4 protein cavity, demonstrating that this cavity is not on the major exit pathway. The crystal lattice has a substantial influence on ligand migration, suggesting that significant conformational rearrangements may be required for ligand exit. Taken together, these results are consistent with a distal histidine gate as one important ligand entry and exit route, despite its participation in the dimeric interface.