Toward modeling H-NOX domains: a DFT study of heme-NO complexes as hydrogen bond acceptors

Density functional theory calculations (PW91/STO-TZP, including basis-set superposition error corrections) have been used to evaluate hydrogen bond energies of five- and six-coordinate heme-NO complexes with phenol and imidazole, chosen as models for distal pocket tyrosine and histidine residues. The calculated interaction energies are approximately 2 kcal/mol for phenol and 3-4 kcal/mol for imidazole, which are 2-4 times smaller than the energies calculated for heme-O(2) complexes hydrogen-bonding with a distal histidine. Interestingly, the hydrogen bond energies are found to be very similar for five- and six-coordinate heme-NO complexes, which may be viewed as contrary to the interpretation of a recent observation on a bacterial H-NOX (Heme-Nitric oxide/OXygen-binding) protein with sequence homology to mammalian-soluble guanylate cyclase.