The distal heme pocket of Escherichia coli flavohemoglobin probed by infrared spectroscopy.

The infrared absorption spectra of ferric cyanide and ferrous carbonmonoxy Escherichia coli flavohemoglobin have been measured in order to probe the fine structural properties of the distal heme pocket, characterized by the presence of a tyrosine in position B10 and a glutamine in position E7. The stretching frequency of iron bound cyanide occurs at 2136 cm(-1), an unusually high value if compared to other heme proteins. The infrared spectrum of the CO bound derivative displays two peaks centered at 1960 cm(-1) and at 1909 cm(-1) respectively. H(2)O effects have been studied in both the ferric cyanide and ferrous CO derivatives in order to establish the presence of a distal hydrogen bonding to the iron bound ligand. The observed isotope shifts indicate that in the ferric cyanide derivative a hydrogen bond is donated from a residue in the distal pocket to the biatomic ligand whereas in the ferrous carbon monoxy derivative only the 1909 cm(-1) component is most likely hydrogen bonded to the phenolic group of TyrB10.