Biochem 3 Flashcards
(140 cards)
1st challenge: oxygen is reactive and typically oxidizes species to which it binds -> How do we bind O2 reversibly without oxidation? -> the only iron that can do this is ferrous +2 iron
-contains iron which normally chemically reacts with O2 -> rust
- bury O2 binding sites away from water (hydrophobic) in the heme pocket to allow for reversible binding of O2 to ferrous iron rather than the chemical rxn of ferrous iron with oxygen and water to form ferric iron
- avoids oxidation of the iron
2nd challenge: reversible binding of ligand to tissue is hyperbolic (michaelis-menten behavior) -> how to dissociate O2 at pressures which are not near 0?
-oligomerize binding sites to permit positive cooperative interactions of 4 binding sites (present in hemoglobin tetramer) rather than the hyperbolic binding characteristics of michaelis-menten relationship
3rd challenge: normal metabolism results in the generation of metabolic acids and CO2 (2 sources of protons) -> how to facilitate transport of CO2 and protons to the lungs so they can be eliminated
- lower pK of amino acid side chains as O2 is bound and raise pK as oxygen is released
- protons will bind as oxygen dissociates
- hemoglobin carries protons to the lungs -> release protons in lungs -> recombine with bicarbonate ions and form CO2 -> exhale
CO2
- anhydrous form of carbonic acid
- carbonic acid (hydrated form) will dissociate into bicarbonate ions and protons
hemoglobin
- tetramer
- 50% volume of whole blood
- millimolar (big in comparison)
- we need a lot for proton and O2 transport
- must be packaged in RBC bc if we put it in plasma the osmotic pressure would result in large amount of water to flow out of tissues into blood
- shape gives large surface
myoglobin
- 8 helices
- one polypeptide of the hemoglobin (monomer)
- non helical segments- between the helices -> important for transmitting information
- binds 1 heme
- O2 binding sites are buried in a hydrophobic environment to allow reversible binding without oxidation of the iron
heme
- tetrapyrrole
- four 5 member rings
- iron in the middle -> porphyrin structure
- iron is in ferrous state
hemoglobin
- ferriprotoporphyrin 9 structure
- heme with an iron in it -> iron is in ferrous state
hemoglobin chains
- 4 of the 6 binding sites that iron can make in a hexocoordinate structure are occupied by 4 of the Nitrogen of the tetrapyrrole (porphyrin ring)
- additional binding site provided by the protein itself -> histidine
- each of the four chains have a histidine -> F8 histidine
- 8th residue in the 6th of 8 helices
- forms a coordination with ferrous iron
- 6th position is where oxygen will bind
- ferrous irons are linked to protein through a pentacoordinate complex which becomes a hexacoordinate when O2 is bound
hemoglobin and myglobin
- ferrous irons are linked to protein through a pentacoordinate complex which becomes a hexacoordinate when O2 is bound
- O2 binding sites are buried in a hydrophobic environment to allow reversible binding without oxidation of the iron
oxygenated hemoglobin
- O2 bound in 6th position
- iron is hexacoordinate
- always in ferrous state -> no oxidation of iron takes places
hydrophobic environment of hemoglobin
- no oxidation of iron takes place bc there is no access to water in hemoglobin
- hydrophobic residues surround the iron
- oxidation of iron to ferric iron proceeds with an intermediate that makes use of water
myoglobin affinity for O2
- hard to get O2 off myoglobin until you reach very low O2 tensions in the surrounding environment of the molecule
- good oxygen buffer -> it will carry a lot of O2 but wont release effectively -> hyperbolic
- binding of O2 is hyperbolic
- high affinity for O2
- native state -> binds too tightly
- even in the lab a myoglobin with lower affinity still wont bind effectively in lungs
- never be able to transport O2 safely to tissue with myoglobin
binding of Carbon monoxide
- binds just like O2 to hemoglobin
- affinity is 200-250x greater than the affinity for hemoglobin for O2
- toxic to the body
- does come off hemoglobin
- people with carbon monoxide poisoning affixiate
- carbon monoxide also blocks the function of myoglobin and mitochondrial cytochromes that are involved in oxidative phosphorylation
- Methods to displace the carbon monoxide (least to most effective):
- very high pressures of O2 in a hypobaric chamber -> reversible binding rxn
- bright light can cause carbon monoxide to be photolytically cleaved off the heme
- chemically oxidize the hemes to the ferric state -> carbon monoxide like oxygen will not bind to ferric heme -> immediately reduce iron with methylene and ascorbic acid back to ferrous state
- low levels of carbon monoxide bind to some subunits of hemoglobin instead of oxygen and shift the hemoglobin structure to high affinity form of the tetramer
2 conformations of hemoglobin
- one has a low affinity for O2 -> sufficiently low to give up O2
- the other binds O2 much more tightly (in lungs)
- transition from low to high affinity gives the S shaped curve -> called positive cooperative interactions
- 4 binding sites are essential for cooperativity
- must be at least 2 conformations in order for cooperativity to take place!
cooperativity: quantitative description
- cooperative proteins have multiple ligand binding sites
- hill equation
- n = hill coefficient (degree of cooperativity)
- k= affinity
- n is measured by making a hill plot
- x-axis = log of pressure of O2
- y-axis = log of the ratio of the % saturation / 100 - % saturation
- S shaped curve plotted using the hill equation gives a value of the slope of the hill plot -> nh
- nh > 1 when there are positive cooperative interactions
- when there is no cooperativity n= 1
- if there is negative cooperativity 0 < n < 1
- n can never be greater than the number of subunits in the protein and never less than 0
positive cooperativity
- S shaped binding curve
- n>1 on hill plot
- binding to one site makes it easier to bind to the next (so on)
- can never be more than the number of subunits (4)
- in reality it is typically 2.8
negative cooperativity
- 0 < n< 1 on hill plot
- not found in hemoglobin
- binding to first site is easier than the second (so on)
no cooperativity
- independent of how many subunits are on the protein
- n=1 on hill plot
pH effect O2 binding to hemoglobin: Bohr Effect
- myoglobin is independent to pH
- as pH decreases, proton concentration goes up -> affinity for hemoglobin for O2 goes down -> great for tissues!
- tissues are actively metabolizing generating the protons to facilitate the release of O2 near the lungs (catalyzed by carbonic anhydrase)
- CO2 + H2O HCO3- + H+
- tissues also release CO2 which rxn with H2O -> enzyme carbonic anhydrase converts CO2 to bicarbonate ions and protons (CO2 is a source of protons)
- H+ binds to hemoglobin and stabilizes the T state
- pronates His146 -> forms a salt bridge with Asp94 -> release of O2
- pH different between lungs and metabolic tissues increases efficiency of O2 transport
- Bohr effect
Bohr Effect
- oxyhemoglobin is a stronger acid deoxyhemoglobin and gives up protons easier
- hemoglobin binds oxygen in lungs and gives up protons -> bicarbonate ions surround and react with protons -> make carbonic acid -> carbonic anhydrase converts carbonic acid to CO2 -> exhale
- exhaling gets rid of CO2 bound in tissues
- hemoglobin releases O2 it binds protons
- hemoglobin in a low pH -> dissociation of O2 (tissues)
- high pH -> O2 is tightly bound (lungs)
- protons come from the environment (plasma)
p50
- pressure of O2 required to half saturate the molecule
- p50 is lower when affinity is raised
- high pH, high affinity, low p50
- low pH, low affinity, high p50
- lower pH the curve shifts right due to higher p50
re-emphasis
- hemoglobin helps carry protons in tissues and release them in the lungs
- carries protons and O2 from lungs to tissues
- low pH in tissues -> release O2
- bicarbonate ions are in the plasma
- bicarbonate provides a reactant for the protons coming off the hemoglobin as it is binding O2 in lungs
- CO2 is synthesized using carbonic anhydrase -> exhaled
allosteric modulation by 2,3-DPG
- 2,3-diphosphoglyceric acid; small molecule
- aka 2,3-biphosphyglyceric acid -> 2,3-BPG
- negative allosteric effector
- affinity for O2 is decreased in the presence of 2,3-DPG
- decreased affinity -> right shifted oxygen dissociation curve with an increased value of P50
- properties of 1 binding site by a ligand bound to another (allosteric)
- low pH and high DPG -> decrease affinity