Circular dichroism and conformation of fish hemoglobins.

Abstract The circular dichroism spectrum of fully liganded CO hemoglobin from the Atlantic bluefin tuna (Tunnus thynnus) shows a pH- and temperature-dependent feature at 416 nm. It is half-developed at pH 5.9 and 20 degrees C and its change with temperature corresponds to a heat of 34 kcal/mol (tetramer) for the transition. Correlation with studies on function (Morris, R. J., and Gibson, Q. H. (1982) J. Biol. Chem. 257, 4869-4874) shows that the dichroism feature changes at about 1 pH unit below the R-T transition. There is a close correlation between the 416 nm band and changes in circular dichroism at 287 nm. The new 416 nm band is seen in several fish hemoglobins, but not with human hemoglobin. With hemoglobin from Brevoortia tyrannus, which has been sufficiently studied to permit the comparison, there is a smaller gap between the change in dichroism spectrum and the functional R-T transition. So far, no change in function has been associated with the appearance of the 416 nm circular dichroism band.