Assignment of conformation-sensitive near-infrared bands in high-spin ferrous haemoproteins.Low-temperature magnetic circular dichroism data

An assignment of the near-infrared bands in the 600–800 nm spectral region observed in magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectra of high-spin ferrous haemoproteins is presented. The assignment is based on a relative energy level scheme for iron d-electrons, a comparison of predicted and measured temperature dependences of MCD intensity, a sign of MCD bands and a group theoretical analysis of allowed transitions. The proposed assignment is consistent with the ∼15-nm red shift of the ∼760 nm band on breakage of the Fe-His bond in deoxy-myoglobin at low pH, with low-temperature photolysis experiments available for CO complexes of several haemoproteins. In accordance with the observations, the intensity of the MCD bands for proteins with a sulphur anion of cysteine as proximal haemligand (cytochrome P450 and chloroperoxidase) is predicted to be diminished by at least one order of magnitude compared to that for proteins with an imidazole of a histidine as a protein-derived haemligand (i.e. myoglobin, haemoglobin and horseradish peroxidase). Received: 4 February 1997 / Accepted: 1 May 1997