The Co-NO stretching vibration has been assigned in the resonance Raman spectra of various cobaltMonomeric hemoglobins with a distal histidine (sperm whale myoglobin and leghemoglobin) exhibit this vibration at 573 -575 cm-', whereas hemoglobins without distal histidine (elephant myoglobin and insect hemoglobin from Chironomus thummi thummi, CTT 111) show this vibration in the range of 553 -558 cm-'. The Fe-NO stretching vibration which occurs in the range of 554-556 cm-' does not reflect the distal histidine-ligand interaction. Therefore, the Co-NO moiety which is isoelectronic with the Fe-02 moiety is a good monitor for distal effects on the exogenous ligand of hemoglobins, especially due to the fact that in hemoglobins with distal histidine the Fe-02 stretching vibration (567-572 cm-') is similar to the Co-NO stretching vibration.substituted monomeric hemoglobins by employing isotope-labeling of nitrosyl (14N160, 15N160 , 14~180).Cobalt-substituted hemes are capable of binding nitric oxide in the presence of nitrogen bases [l]. The cobalt-nitrosyl moiety is isoelectronic with the iron-dioxygen moiety. It is demonstrated in t h s paper that cobalt-substituted hemoglobins also bind nitric oxide. Therefore, the nitrosylated cobalt hemoglobins are of particular interest for investigating the interactions of the exogenous ligand with the protein side groups on the distal side of the heme. Since the Fe-02 stretching vibration has been first observed by Brunner in oxy Hb A [2] and later by other authors in many hemoglobins [3-61, it is of particular interest to find the corresponding Co-NO stretching frequency. The assignment of the CO-NO stretching mode is easier than that of the v(Fe-02) as various isotopically labelled nitric oxides (14N'60,'5N'60, 14N'80) are available. By comparison of the stretching vibrations of the Co-NO and Fe-02 bonds we can determine the similarities or differences between the metal-ligand bonding interactions in these isoelectronic systems.Four cobalt-substituted monomeric hemoglobins were studied via resonance Raman spectroscopy: sperm whale myoglobin, leghemoglobin from soybean, insect hemoglobin from Chironomus thummi thummi (CTT 111) and elephant myoglobin. These hemoglobins contain the same protoheme-IX as prosthetic groups but they are different with regard to their heme pockets. Thus, we expect that the pophyrin-protein or ligand-protein interactions are different in these hemoglobins. Sperm whale myoglobin has a distal histidine [7], whereas in elephant myoglobin this histidine is replaced by glutamine [S, 91. In CTT 111, the 'distal' hstidine is turned to the surface of the molecule and is thus incapable of interacting
MATERIALS AND METHODSSperm whale myoglobin was purchased from Sigma Chemicals (St Louis, MO) and further purified as already described [ 131. Elephant myoglobin [S], leghemoglobin from soybean [14], and CTT 111 from Chironomus thummi thummi [15,16] were purified as described elsewhere. The preparation of cobaltous protoporphyrin-IX and the reconstitution of hemo...