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Title: Preliminary time-of-flight neutron diffraction study of human deoxyhemoglobin

Journal Article · · Acta Crystallographica. Section F
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [2]; ;  [1];  [1]
  1. Bioscience Division, MS M888, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545 (United States)
  2. Kyoto University, Research Reactor Institute, Kumatori, Osaka 590-0494 (Japan)
  3. Jichi Medical University, Department of Physiology, Shimotsuke, Tochigi 329-0498 (Japan)
  4. Yokohama City University, Graduate School of Integrated Science, Tsurumi, Yokohama 230-0045 (Japan)

In order to investigate the role of the protonation states of protein residues in O{sub 2} binding, large crystals of deoxy HbA (∼20 mm{sup 3}) were grown in D{sub 2}O under anaerobic conditions for neutron diffraction studies. Human hemoglobin (HbA) is an intricate system that has evolved to efficiently transport oxygen molecules (O{sub 2}) from lung to tissue. Its quaternary structure can fluctuate between two conformations, T (tense or deoxy) and R (relaxed or oxy), which have low and high affinity for O{sub 2}, respectively. The binding of O{sub 2} to the heme sites of HbA is regulated by protons and by inorganic anions. In order to investigate the role of the protonation states of protein residues in O{sub 2} binding, large crystals of deoxy HbA (∼20 mm{sup 3}) were grown in D{sub 2}O under anaerobic conditions for neutron diffraction studies. A time-of-flight neutron data set was collected to 1.8 Å resolution on the Protein Crystallography Station (PCS) at the spallation source run by Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE). The HbA tetramer (64.6 kDa; 574 residues excluding the four heme groups) occupies the largest asymmetric unit (space group P2{sub 1}) from which a high-resolution neutron data set has been collected to date.

OSTI ID:
22360513
Journal Information:
Acta Crystallographica. Section F, Vol. 64, Issue Pt 4; Other Information: PMCID: PMC2374244; PMID: 18391424; PUBLISHER-ID: fw5168; OAI: oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:2374244; Copyright (c) International Union of Crystallography 2008; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1744-3091
Country of Publication:
United Kingdom
Language:
English