Heme proteins bind the gaseous ligands XO (X = C, N, O) via backbonding from Fe d π electrons. Backbonding is modulated by distal interactions of the bound ligand with the surrounding protein and by variations in the strength of the trans proximal ligand. Vibrational modes associated with FeX and XO bond stretching coordinates report on these interactions, but the interpretive framework developed for CO adducts, involving anticorrelations of νFeC and νCO, has seemed not to apply to NO adducts. We have now obtained an excellent anticorrelation of νFeN and νNO, via resonance Raman spectroscopy on (N-methylimidazole)Fe(II)TPP-Y(NO), where TPP-Y is tetraphenylporphine with electron donating or withdrawing substituents, Y, that modulate the backbonding; the problem of laser-induced dissociation of the axial base was circumvented by using frozen solutions. New data are also reported for CO adducts. The anticorrelations are supported by DFT calculations of structures and spectra. When protein data are examined, the NO adducts show large deviations from the modeled anticorrelation when there are distal H-bonds or positive charges. These deviations are proposed to result from closing of the FeNO angle due to a shift in the valence isomer equilibrium toward the Fe(III)(NO -) form, an effect that is absent in CO adducts. The differing vibrational patterns of CO and NO adducts provide complementary information with respect to protein interactions, which may help to elucidate the mechanisms of ligand discrimination and signaling in heme sensor proteins.

Transition metal oxo-species have been the focus of extensive studies because of their relevance to the redox biochemistry of dioxygen as well as myriads of oxidative catalytic processes. High valent oxo-manganese complexes have been described for porphyrin, 1 salen, 2 corrole, 3 corrolazine, 4 and non-heme systems. 5 The O=Mn V moiety has been suggested in the photosynthetic water oxidation process, 6 and a bridged Mn V porphyrin dimer has recently been demonstrated to oxidize water into dioxygen. 7 We have previously described low-spin d 2 oxomanganese(V) porphyrin complexes that display an extraordinary range of reactivity toward oxo-transfer as a function of prototropic equilibria involving the axial ligand. 8 A prediction of that work was that oxo-aqua and oxo-hydroxomanganese(V) intermediates are reactive oxidants while the stable species observed at high pH are trans-dioxo complexes. Here we provide the first definitive spectroscopic evidence for trans-dioxomanganese(V) porphyrins [O=Mn V =O]. Further, we show that protonation of these species affords the reactive intermediates usually associated with these catalytic systems (Scheme 1).

Visible and ultraviolet resonance Raman (RR) spectra are reported for Fe III (NO) adducts of myoglobin variants with altered polarity in the distal heme pockets. The stretching frequencies of the Fe III -NO and N-O bonds, ν FeN and ν NO , are negatively correlated, consistent with backbonding. However, the correlation shifts to lower ν NO for variants lacking a distal histidine. DFT modeling reproduces the shifted correlations, and shows the shift to be associated with the loss of a lone-pair donor interaction from the distal histidine that selectively strengthens the N-O bond. However, when the model contains strongly electron-withdrawing substituents at the heme β-positions, ν FeN and ν NO become positively correlated. This effect results from Fe III -N-O bending, which is induced by lone pair donation to the N NO atom. Other mechanisms for bending are discussed, which likewise lead to a positive ν FeN /ν NO correlation, including thiolate ligation in heme proteins and electrondonating meso-substituents in heme models. The ν FeN /ν NO data for the Fe(III) complexes are reporters of heme pocket polarity and the accessibility of lone pair, Lewis base donors. Implications for biologically important processes, including NO binding, reductive nitrosylation and NO reduction, are discussed.

In agreement with previous reports (Gasyna, Z. FEBS Lett. 1979, 106, 213-218 and Leibl, W.; Nitschke, W.; Huettermann, J. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1986, 870, 20-30) radiolytically reduced samples of oxygenated myoglobin at cryogenic temperatures have been shown by optical absorption and EPR studies to produce directly the peroxo-bound myoglobin at 77 K. Annealing to temperatures near 185 K induces proton transfer, resulting in the formation of the hydroperoxo heme derivative. Resonance Raman studies of the annealed samples has permitted, for the first time, the direct observation of the key nu(Fe-O) stretching mode of the physiologically important Fe-OOH fragment of this ubiquitous intermediate. The assignment of this mode to a feature appearing at 617 cm(-1) is strongly supported by documentation of a 25 cm(-1) shift to lower energy upon substitution with (18)O(2) and by a 5 cm(-1) shift to lower energy for samples prepared in solutions of deuterated solvent.

SummaryRaman spectroscopy can provide unique information on the evolution of structure in proteins over a wide range of time-scales; the picosecond to millisecond range can be accessed with pump-probe techniques. Specific parts of the molecule are interrogated by tuning the probe laser to a resonant electronic transition, including the UV transitions of aromatic residues and of the peptide bond. Advances in laser technology have enabled the characterization of transient species at an unprecedented level of structural detail. Applications to protein unfolding and allostery are reviewed.

Determinants of the Fe-CO and C-O stretching frequencies in (imidazole) heme-CO adducts have been investigated via Density Functional Theory (DFT) analysis, in connection with puzzling characteristics of the heme sensor protein CooA, and of the H-NOX (Heme-Nitric Oxide and/or OXygen binding) family of proteins, including soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC). The computations show that two mechanisms of Fe-histidine bond weakening have opposite effects on the νFeC/νCO pattern. Mechanical tension is expected to raise νFeC with little change in νCO, while weakening of H-bond donation from the imidazole ligand has the opposite effect. Data on CooA indicate imidazole H-bond weakening associated with heme displacement, as part of the activation mechanism. The computations also reveal that protein-induced distortion of the porphyrin ring, a prominent structural feature of the H-NOX protein TtTar4H (Thermoanaerobacter tengcongensis Tar4 protein), has surprisingly little effect on νFeC or νCO. However, another structural feature, strong H-bonding to the propionates, is suggested to account for the weakened backbonding that is evident in sGC. TtTar4H-CO itself has an elevated νFeC, which is successfully modeled as a compression effect, resulting from steric crowding in the distal pocket. νFeC/νCO data, in conjunction with modeling, can provide valuable insight into mechanisms for heme-protein modulation.

Soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC), a hemoprotein, is the primary nitric oxide (NO) receptor in higher eukaryotes. The binding of NO to sGC leads to the formation of a five-coordinate ferrous-nitrosyl complex and a several hundred-fold increase in cGMP synthesis. NO activation of sGC is influenced by GTP and the allosteric activators YC-1 and BAY 41-2272. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy shows that the spectrum of the sGC ferrous-nitrosyl complex shifts in the presence of YC-1, BAY 41-2272, or GTP in the presence of excess NO relative to the heme. These molecules shift the EPR signal from one characterized by g 1 = 2.083, g 2 = 2.036, and g 3 = 2.012 to a signal characterized by g 1 = 2.106, g 2 = 2.029, and g 3 = 2.010. The truncated heme domain constructs beta1(1-194) and beta2(1-217) were compared to the full-length enzyme. The EPR spectrum of the beta2(1-217)-NO complex is characterized by g 1 = 2.106, g 2 = 2.025, and g 3 = 2.010, indicating the protein is a good model for the sGC-NO complex in the presence of the activators, while the spectrum of the beta1(1-194)-NO complex resembles the EPR spectrum of sGC in the absence of the activators. Low-temperature resonance Raman spectra of the beta1(1-194)-NO and beta2(1-217)-NO complexes show that the Fe-NO stretching vibration of the beta2(1-217)-NO complex (535 cm (-1)) is significantly different from that of the beta1(1-194)-NO complex (527 cm (-1)). This shows that sGC can adopt different five-coordinate ferrous nitrosyl conformations and suggests that the Fe-NO conformation characterized by this unique EPR signal and Fe-NO stretching vibration represents a highly active sGC state.

Modulation of soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) activity by nitric oxide (NO) involves two distinct steps. Low level activation of sGC is achieved by the stoichiometric binding of NO (1-NO) to the heme cofactor, while much higher activation is achieved by the binding of additional NO (xsNO) at a non-heme site. Addition of the allosteric activator YC-1 to the 1-NO form leads to activity comparable to xsNO state. In this study the mechanisms of sGC activation were investigated using electronic absorption and resonance Raman (RR) spectroscopic methods. RR spectroscopy confirmed that the 1-NO form contains 5-coordinate NO-heme and showed that the addition of NO to the 1-NO form has no significant effect on the spectrum. In contrast, addition of YC-1 to either the 1-NO or xsNO forms alters the RR spectrum significantly, indicating a protein-induced change in the heme geometry. This change in the heme geometry was also observed when BAY 41-2272 was added to the xsNO form. Bands assigned to bending and stretching motions of the vinyl and propionate substituents change intensity in a pattern suggesting altered tilting of the pyrrole rings to which they are attached. In addition, the N-O stretching frequency increases, with no change in the Fe-NO frequency, an effect modeled via DFT calculations as resulting from a small opening of the Fe-N-O angle. These spectral differences demonstrate different mechanisms of activation by synthetic activators, such as YC-1 and BAY 41-2272, and excess NO.