Molecular shape, dissociation, and oxygen binding of the dodecamer subunit of Lumbricus terrestris hemoglobin.

Small angle x-ray scattering of the 213-kDa dodecamer of Lumbricus terrestris Hb yielded radius of gyration = 3.74 +/- 0.01 nm, maximum diameter = 10.59 +/- 0.01 nm, and volume = 255 +/- 10 nm3, with no difference between the oxy and deoxy states. Sedimentation velocity studies indicate the dodecamer to have a spherical shape and concentration- and Ca2+-dependent equilibria with its constituent subunits, the disulfide-bonded trimer of chains a-c and chain d. Equilibrium sedimentation data were fitted best with a trimer-dodecamer model, ln K4 = 7 (association K in liters3/g3) at 1 degrees C and 4 at 25 degrees C, providing DeltaH = -20 kcal/mol and DeltaS = 4.4 eu/mol. Oxydodecamer dissociation at pH 8.0, in urea, GdmCl, heteropolytungstate K8[SiW11O39] and of metdodecamer at pH 7, was followed by gel filtration. Elution profiles were fitted with exponentially modified gaussians to represent the three peaks. Two exponentials were necessary to fit all the dissociations except in [SiW11O39]-8. Equilibrium oxygen binding measurements at pH 6.5-8. 5, provided P50 = 8.5, 11.5-11.9 and 11.9-13.5 torr, and n50 = 5.2-9. 5, 3.2-4.9, and 1.8-2.7 for blood, Hb, and dodecamer, respectively, at pH 7.5, 25 degrees C. P50 was decreased 3- and 2-fold in approximately 100 mM Ca2+ and Mg2+, respectively, with concomitant but smaller increases in cooperativity.