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Direct evidence for the role of haem doming as the primary event in the cooperative transition of haemoglobin

Nature Structural Biology volume 1, pages 230–233 (1994)Cite this article

Abstract

The study of cooperative ligand binding among the four subunits of haemoglobin has played a central role in the understanding of allosteric transitions in a large number of enzymes. Haem iron out-of–plane motion has been suggested to be the trigger for the cooperative transition of haemoglobin. To function as a trigger in a dynamic sense, haem–iron doming must be the first conformational change to occur following ligand dissociation. Here we present the first direct demonstration that haem–iron doming occurs on the same time scale as the breaking of the iron–ligand bond, thus establishing haem–iron doming as the primary event which lead to the R→T transition in haemoglobin.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquée INSERM U275, Ecole Polytechnique-ENSTA, 91120, Palaiseau, France

    S. Franzen, J.C. Lambry & J.L. Martin

  2. INSERM U299, Le Kremlin-Bicetre, France

    B. Bohn & C. Poyart

Authors
  1. S. Franzen
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  2. J.C. Lambry
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  3. B. Bohn
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  4. C. Poyart
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  5. J.L. Martin
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Franzen, S., Lambry, J., Bohn, B. et al. Direct evidence for the role of haem doming as the primary event in the cooperative transition of haemoglobin. Nat Struct Mol Biol 1, 230–233 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsb0494-230

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