Anomalously slow cyanide binding to Glycera dibranchiata monomer methemoglobin component II: implication for the equilibrium constant.

In comparison to sperm whale metmyoglobin, metleghemoglobin a, methemoglobins, and heme peroxidases, the purified Glycera dibranchiata monomer methemoglobin component II exhibits anomalously slow cyanide ligation kinetics. For the component II monomer methemoglobin this reaction has been studied under pseudo-first-order conditions at pH 6.0, 7.0, 8.0, and 9.0, employing 100-250-fold mole excesses of potassium cyanide at each pH. At 20 degrees C, with micromolar protein concentrations, kobsd varies between 9.11 x 10(-5) s-1 at pH 6.0, 100-fold KCN mole excess, and 1.12 x 10(-2) s-1 at pH 9.0, 250-fold KCN mole excess. Our analysis shows that the concentration-independent bimolecular rate constant (k1app) is small in comparison to those of the other heme proteins. For example, at pH 7.0 it is 0.491 M-1 s-1, compared to 1.1 x 10(5) M-1 s-1 for cytochrome c peroxidase; 111 M-1 s-1 for guinea pig methemoglobin; approximately 400 M-1 s-1 for sperm whale metmyoglobin; and 692 M-1 s-1 for soybean metleghemoglobin a, at the same pH and similar temperatures. Furthermore, our results show that the dissociation rate is extremely slow, with k-1app no larger than 10(-6) s-1. Separation of the bimolecular rate constant into contributions from kCN- (the rate constant for CN- binding) and from kHCN (the rate constant for HCN binding) shows that the former is approximately 90 times greater. These results indicate that cyanide ligation reactions are not instantaneous for this protein, which is important for those attempting to study the ligand-binding equilibria.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)