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Biomedical subjects

B D Olafson

Publications and source records attributed to B D Olafson.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Circular dichroism determination of class I MHC-peptide equilibrium dissociation constants.

Class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules bind peptides derived from degraded proteins for display to T cells of the immune system. Peptides bind to MHC proteins with varying affinities, depending upon their sequence and length. We demonstrate that the thermal stability of the MHC-peptide complex depends directly on peptide binding affinity. We use this correlation to develop a convenient method to determine peptide dissociation constants by measuring MHC-peptide complex stability using thermal denaturation profiles monitored by circular dichroism.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1981

Theoretical studies of oxygen binding.

We discussed the bonding of O2 to hemoglobin using results of ab initio calculations of idealized portions of the Hb molecule. The bond between Fe and O2 is formed by coupling a triplet state (intermediate spin state) of Fe to the triplet ground state of O2 (analogous to the bonding of O to O2 in ozone). The coordination sphere of the Fe reduces the energy separation between the quintet, triplet, and singlet states, making an intermediate spin state accessible for bond formation. This provides the mechanism by which an O2 molecule can easily and reversibly bind to Hb. Neither the diamagnetic (t2g) excited state of Fe nor the excited singlet state of O2 play a role in the formation of the FeO2 bond. We also discussed the role of the Fe intra-atomic exchange terms and show how they serve to store electronic energy upon bond formation. An example was given, illustrating how this stored electronic energy can then be used to drive enzymatic reactions. Metal atoms such as ferrous Fe are capable of existing in several distinct electronic configurations, depending upon the ligands. Our objective here has been to illustrate the different characteristics of these Fe configurations and to indicate why various axial ligands stabilize particular Fe configurations. In addition, we have sketched the type of orbital descriptions arising from theoretical wavefunctions and illustrated how to use these descriptions to predict chemical phenomena.

Heme↗
PubMed1977

Molecular description of dioxygen bonding in hemoglobin.

From ab initio quality calculations on model systems, we conclude that in unliganded Fe-porphyrin the FE lies in the plane for both the high-spin (q) and intermediate-spin (t) states. Thus, the high-spin d6 Fe is not too big to fit into the porphyrin plane (as often suggested). We find the q state lower for a porphyrin hole radius greater than 1.94 A and the t state lower for smaller sizes. For the five-coordinate complex including an axial nitrogenous ligand [a model for myoglobin (Mb) and hemoglobin (Hb)], we find the ground state to be q with the Fe 0.3 A out of the plane (recent x-ray data on deoxy Mb suggests about 0.4 A). The origin of this out-of-plane displacement is the nonbonded repulsions between the axial ligand and porphyrin nitrogen orbitals. Pushing the Fe of the five-coordinate complex into the plane does not lead to a stable low-spin state (as usually suggested), the q and t states being the low-lying states. Bonding the O2 to form the six-coordinate complex stabilizes the t form of the Mb model, leading to a singlet state of MbO2 with Fe in the plane. (It has often been suggested that the Fe of MbO2 and HbO2 is low-spin Fe2+; however, we find this not to be the case.) The bonding in the MbO2 model confirms the ozone model of the bonding, leading to a structure consistent with the Pauling model (our calculated FeOO bond angle is 119 degrees). The total charge transfer to the O2 is 0.10 electron, in disagreement with the Weiss model. Molecular orbital calculations (Hartree-Fock) incorrectly lead to septet ground state (S = 3) for the MbO2 model. The implications for the cooperative O2 binding in hemoglobin and protein modifications of the energetics of the active site are considered. Use of our calculated force constants for displacement of Fe perpendicular to the heme plane suggests that the movement of the Fe upon a change in the quaternary structure from the T to the R form is only about 0.04 A toward the heme plane.

Binding Sites↗
PubMed1975

Ozone model for bonding of an O2 to heme in oxyhemoglobin.

Several rather different models of the Fe-o2 bond in oxyhemoglobin have previously been proposed, none of which provide a satisfactory explanation of several properties. We propose a new model for the bonding of an O2 to the Fe of myoglobin and hemoglobin and report ab initio generalized valence bond and configuration interaction calculations on FeO2 that corroborate this model. Our model is based closely upon the bonding in ozone which recent theoretical studies have shown to be basically a biradical with a singlet state stabilized by a three-center four-electron pi bond. In this model, the facile formation and dissociation of the Fe-O2 bond is easily rationalized since the O2 always retains its triplet ground state character. The ozone model leads naturally to a large negative electric field gradient (in agreement with Mössbauer studies) and to z-polarized (perpendicular to the heme) charge transfer transitions. It also suggests that the 1.3 eV transition, present in HbO2 and absent in HbCO, is due to a porphyrin-to-Fe transition, analogous to that of ferric hemoglobins (e.g., HbCN).

Chemical Phenomena↗