Aliphatic groups of sperm whale myoglobin: 13C NMR study

The aliphatic region of the 13C NMR spectrum of sperm whale cyanoferrimyoglobin has been examined at 67.9 MHz. Fifty partially resolved or well-resolved resonances, representing at least half of the aliphatic carbons in the molecule, are observed in the spectral region from 9 to 29 ppm downfield of tetramethylsilane. Analyses of the spin lattice relaxation times (T1) and nuclear Overhauser enhancements for these resonances reveal considerable motion freedom of the aliphatic side chains. In the spectral region from 9 to 15 ppm, eight single carbon resonances are observed and tentatively assigned to Cdelta 1 of eight of the nine isoleucine residues. In at least five cases the reorientational motion of the isoleucine side chains could not be characterized solely by rotation of the Cdelta 1 methyl groups. The simplest model consistent with the data is a restricted diffusion model with two degrees of internal rotation [Wittenbort, R. J. & Szabo, A. (1978) J. Chem. Phys. 69, 1722--1736]. In light of the packing densities within the myoglobin molecule these results are taken to imply concerted motions of the buried aliphatic residues.