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Published on: April 23, 2021
Selective X-ray-induced NO photodissociation in haemoglobin crystals: evidence from a Raman-assisted crystallographic
Antonello Merlino1, Martin R Fuchs, Andrea Pica
1Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Naples `Federico II', Italy.
Abstract:
Despite their high physiological relevance, haemoglobin crystal structures with NO bound to haem constitute less than 1% of the total ligated haemoglobins (Hbs) deposited in the Protein Data Bank. The major difficulty in obtaining NO-ligated Hbs is most likely to be related to the oxidative denitrosylation caused by the high reactivity of the nitrosylated species with O(2). Here, using Raman-assisted X-ray crystallography, it is shown that under X-ray exposure (at four different radiation doses) crystals of nitrosylated haemoglobin from Trematomus bernacchii undergo a transition, mainly in the β chains, that generates a pentacoordinate species owing to photodissociation of the Fe-NO bond. These data provide a physical explanation for the low number of nitrosylated Hb structures available in the literature.
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