The electrostatic potential for the phosphodiester group determined from X-ray diffraction.

The charge density distribution in the crystal structure of ammonium dimethylphosphate at 123 K has been determined from x-ray diffraction data (MoK alpha) using 8437 reflections with sin theta/lambda less than 1.33 A-1 [NH4+.(CH3)2PO4-, M(r) = 143.08, monoclinic, P2(1)/c, a = 10.007(1), b = 6.926(1), c = 9.599(2) A, beta = 105.40(1) degrees, V = 641.4(3) A3, Z = 4, F000 = 304, Dx = 1.4815 g.cm-3, mu = 3.726 cm-1]. Least-squares structure refinement assuming Stewart's rigid pseudoatom model (variables including Slater-type radial exponents and electron populations for multipole terms extending to octapoles for C, N, O, and P, and dipoles for H) gave R(F2) = 0.039 for all reflections. The dimethylphosphate anion is in the gauche-gauche conformation and has approximate twofold symmetry. One phosphoryl O atom forms three hydrogen bonds and the other forms one. Neither of the ester O atoms is hydrogen bonded. For the dimethylphosphate anion isolated from the crystal structure, a map of the electrostatic potential obtained using the pseudoatom charge parameters shows that the phosphoryl O atoms are considerably more electronegative than the ester O atoms. The electrostatic potential distribution obtained in this way has been fitted by least squares to a system of atom-centered point charges. The potential calculated from these point charges agrees with the experimental result. It also agrees reasonably well with potentials obtained from three other systems of point charges that are widely used as part of the semiempirical force field for molecular mechanics and molecular dynamics calculations involving nucleic acids.     

Hydration in proteins observed by high-resolution neutron crystallography

It is well known that water molecules surrounding a protein play important roles in maintaining its structural stability. Water molecules are known to participate in several physiological processes through the formation of hydrogen bonds. However, the hydration structures of most proteins are not known well at an atomic level at present because X-ray protein crystallography has difficulties to localize hydrogen atoms. In contrast, neutron crystallography has no problem in determining the position of hydrogens with high accuracy.1 In this article, the hydration structures of three proteins are described- myoglobin, wild-type rubredoxin, and a mutant rubredoxin-the structures of which were solved at 1.5- or 1.6-A resolution by neutron structure determination. These hydration patterns show fascinating features and the water molecules adopt a variety of shapes in the neutron Fourier maps, revealing details of intermolecular hydrogen bond formation and dynamics of hydration. Our results further show that there are strong relationships between these shapes and the water environments.     

Hydrogen and hydration in proteins

Neutron diffraction provides an experimental method of directly locating hydrogen atoms in proteins. High-resolution neutron diffractometers dedicated to biological macromolecules (BIX-type diffractometer) have been constructed at the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute and they have been used in the 1.5A-resolution crystal structure analyses of several proteins. Interesting topics relevant to hydrogen and hydration in proteins, such as (1) the detailed geometry of hydrogen bonds; (2) information regarding hydrogen/deuterium exchange behavior; (3) the acidities of certain H atoms; (4) the role of hydrogen atoms in enzyme mechanisms and thermostability; (5) the location methyl hydrogen atoms; and (6) dynamical behavior of hydration structures that include H positions have been extracted from these structural results. In addition, a method for the systematic growth of large single crystals based on phase diagrams has been introduced and will be briefly described in this article.     

NMR study of Galeorhinus japonicus myoglobin. 1H-NMR study of molecular structure of the heme cavity

The molecular structure of the active site of myoglobin from the shark, Galeorhinus japonicus, has been studied by 1H-NMR. Some hyperfine-shifted amino acid proton resonances in the met-cyano form of G. japonicus myoglobin have been unambiguously assigned by the combined use of various two-dimensional NMR techniques; they were compared with the corresponding resonances in Physter catodon myoglobin. The orientations of ThrE10 and IleFG5 residues relative to the heme in G. japonicus met-cyano myoglobin were semiquantitatively estimated from the analysis of their shifts using the magnetic susceptibility tensor determined by a method called MATDUHM (magnetic anisotropy tensor determination utilizing heme methyls) [Yamamoto, Y., Nanai, N. & Ch?j?, R. (1990) J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun., 1556-1557] and the results were compared with the crystal structure of P. catodon carbonmonoxy myoglobin [Hanson, J. C. & Schoenborn, B. P. (1981) J. Mol. Biol. 153, 117-124]. In spite of a substantial difference in shift between the corresponding amino acid proton resonances for the two proteins, the orientations of these amino acid residues relative to the heme in the active site of both myoglobins were found to be highly alike.     

Molecular structure of a DNA decamber containing an anticancer nucleoside arabinosylcytosine: conformational perturbation by arabinosylcytosine in B-DNA

Arabinosylcytosine (araC) is an important anticancer drug that has been shown to be misincorporated into DNA double helix. The incorporation of araC into DNA may have significant conformational consequences that could affect the function of DNA. In this paper, we present the high-resolution 3D structure of an araC-containing decamer d[CCAGGC(araC)TGG], as determined by X-ray diffraction analysis, and assess the possible DNA structural perturbation induced by araC. The modified decamer was crystallized in the monoclinic C2 (a = 31.97 A, b = 25.56 A, c = 34.62 A and beta = 114.50 degrees) space group, the same as that from d(CCAGGCCTGG) [Heinemann, U., & Alings, C. (1989) J. Mol. Biol. 210, 369]. The structure of the araC-containing decamer was solved by the molecular replacement method and refined by the constrained least-squares refinement procedure to obtain a final R factor of 0.187 using 2349 [greater than 2.0 sigma(F)] observed reflections to a resolution of 1.6 A. The overall conformation resembles that of the canonical decamer DNA structure, but with significant differences in regions close to the araC site. The O2' hydroxyl groups of the araC residues lie in the major groove of the helix, and they are in close contact with the C5 methyl and C6 H6 atoms of the thymine on the 3'-side. This creates a higher buckle in the araC7-G14 base pair (14 degrees), as compared to that found in the canonical decamer (9 degrees). This may slightly destabilize B-DNA. No direct intramolecular hydrogen bond is formed, in contrast to the situation when araC is incorporated into Z-DNA.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Structure of a fluid dioleoylphosphatidylcholine bilayer determined by joint refinement of x-ray and neutron diffraction data. I. Scaling of neutron data and the distributions of double bonds and water.

We described in two previous papers a method for the joint refinement of the structure of fluid bilayers using neutron and x-ray diffraction data (Wiener, M. C., and S. H. White 1991a, b. Biophys. J. 59: 162-173 and 174-185). An essential part of the method is the appropriate scaling of the diffraction data. Here we describe the scaling of the neutron data and the determination of the transbilayer distribution of double bonds in liquid-crystalline (L alpha phase) phospholipid bilayers of 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC). The distribution was determined by neutron diffraction of oriented multilayers (66% RH) of DOPC specifically deuterated at the 9- and 10-position of both acyl chains. The double-bond distribution is described accurately by a pair of Gaussian functions each located at a position Zcc = 7.88 +/- 0.09 A from the bilayer center with 1/e-halfwidths of Acc = 4.29 +/- 0.16 A. Previously, we determined the transbilayer distribution of bromine atoms in a specifically halogenated lipid, 1-oleoyl-2-9,10-dibromostearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (OBPC), and showed it to be an isomorphous replacement for DOPC (Wiener, M. C., and S. H. White, 1991c. Biochemistry. In press). A comparison of the double-bond and bromine profiles indicates that the positions of the centers of the deuterated double bond and the brominated methylene Gaussian distributions are equal within experimental error and that each label undergoes similar average thermal motions with respect to the bilayer normal.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Inversion of axial coordination in myoglobin to create a "proximal" ligand binding pocket

A ligand binding pocket has been created on the proximal side of the heme in porcine myoglobin by site-directed mutagenesis. Our starting point was the H64V/V68H double mutant which has been shown to have bis-histidine (His68 and His93) heme coordination [Dou, Y., Admiraal, S. J., Ikeda-Saito, M., Krzywda, S., Wilkinson, A. J., Li, T., Olson, J. S., Prince, R. C., Pickering, I. J., George, G. N. (1995) J. Biol. Chem. 270, 15993-16001]. The replacement of the proximal His93 ligand by noncoordinating Ala (H64V/V68H/H93A) or Gly (H64V/V68H/H93G) residues resulted unexpectedly in a six-coordinate low-spin species in both ferric and ferrous states. To test the hypothesis that the sixth coordinating ligand in the triple mutants was the imidazole of His97, this residue was mutated to Phe, in the quadruple mutants, H64V/V68H/H93A/H97F and H64V/V68H/H93G/H97F. The ferric quadruple mutants show a clear water/hydroxide alkaline transition and high cyanide and CO affinities, characteristics similar to those of wild-type myoglobin. The nu(Fe-CO) and nu(C-O) stretching frequencies in the ferrous-CO state of the quadruple mutants indicate that the "proximal" ligand binding heme pocket is less polar than the distal pocket in the wild-type protein. Thus, we conclude that the proximal heme pocket in the quadruple mutants has a similar affinity for exogenous ligands to the distal pocket of wild-type myoglobin but that the two pockets have different polarities. The quadruple mutants open up new approaches for developing heme chemistry on the myoglobin scaffold.     

Real space refinement of neutron diffraction data from sperm whale carbonmonoxymyoglobin

Neutron diffraction data from crystals of sperm whale carbonmonoxymyoglobin have been refined by the real space refinement technique. Estimates of the neutron occupancies at the end of the refinement show that the mean for each atom type (including hydrogen and deuterium) is close to the expected value and has a standard deviation from the mean of about 5%. Mean neutron occupancies of main-chain atoms involved in deuterium bonds versus those not involved in deuterium bonds demonstrate that the hydrogen/deuterium exchange of the latter group is higher. The oxygen and deuterium co-ordinates for 40 water molecules have been determined: 27 of these water molecules were involved in bridges between protein atoms, and nine were involved in deuterium bonds with main-chain atoms. The deuterium-bond angles in helical regions show significant deviations from linearity. The mean ND … O angle was 154(3) °² and the mean CO … D angle was 145(3) °.     

Conformational perturbation of the anticancer nucleotide arabinosylcytosine on Z-DNA: molecular structure of (araC-dG)3 at 1.3 A resolution.

The left-handed Z-DNA structure of an araC-containing (where araC stands for arabinosylcytosine) hexamer, (araC-dG)3, has been solved by x-ray diffraction analysis at 1.3 A resolution. This hexamer was crystallized in the hexagonal P6(5)22 (a = b = 17.96 A, c = 43.22 A) space group in which the hexamers have statistically disordered packing arrangement along the 6(5) screw axis, yet the crystals diffract x-rays to high resolution. Its structure has been refined by the constrained least square refinement to a final R factor of 0.287 using 737 [> 3.0 sigma(F)] observed reflections. The asymmetric unit of the unit cell contains only a dinucleotide, 5'-p (araC)p(dG). The overall conformation resembles that of the canonical Z-DNA, but with some differences in details. The O2' hydroxyl groups of the araC residues form intramolecular hydrogen bonds with N2 of the 5'-guanine residues. In the deep groove of Z-DNA, these hydroxy groups replace the bridging water molecules that stabilize the guanine in the syn conformation. The results reinforce the earlier observation made by the structural analysis of another hexamer, d(CG[araC]GCG), with a mono-substitution of araC [M.-K. Teng, Y.-C. Liaw, G. A. van der Marel, J. H. van Boom, and A. H.-J. Wang (1989) Biochemistry, vol. 28, pp. 4923-4928]. These two structures show that araC residue can be incorporated readily into the Z structure and probably facilitates the B to Z transition, as supported by uv absorption spectroscopic studies in a number of araC-containing oligonucleotides. The potential biological roles of the araC-modified Z-DNA are discussed.     

X-ray crystal structure of a recombinant human myoglobin mutant at 2.8 A resolution

We have grown crystals in trigonal space group P3(2)21 of a mutant human myoglobin, aquomet form, in which lysine at position 45 has been replaced by arginine and cysteine at position 110 has been replaced by alanine. Suitable crystals of native recombinant human myoglobin have not been obtained. We have used the molecular replacement method to determine the X-ray crystal structure of the mutant at 2.8 A resolution. At the present stage of refinement, the crystallographic R-value for the model, with tightly restrained stereochemistry, is 0.158 for 5.0 to 2.8 A data. As expected, the overall structure is quite similar to the sperm whale myoglobin structure. Arginine 45 adopts a well-ordered conformation similar to that found in aquomet sperm whale myoglobin.     

The structure of [D-Hyi2,L-Hyi4]meso-valinomycin revealed by X-ray analysis

Direct x-ray analysis has been used to determine the crystal structure of [D-Hyi2, L-Hyi4]meso-valinomycin (cyclo[-D-Val-D-Hyi-L-Val-L-Hyi-(D-Val-L-Hyi-L-Val-D-+ ++Hyi)2-], C60H102N6O18), which crystallized from acetone with two solvent molecules. The crystals are trigonal, space group P32, number of molecules per unit cell Z = 3, cell parameters a = b = 15.2085 (8) A, c = 29.3250 (9) A, gamma = 120 degrees. The standard (R) and weighted (Rw) reliability factors after refinement of the atomic coordinates for C, N, and O atoms in the anisotropic thermal motion approximation, allowing for isotropic H atom contributions, were 0.070 and 0.082, respectively. The molecule adopts a distorted bracelet structure which is stabilized by six N-H ... O = C 4----1 type intramolecular hydrogen bonds. The side chains predominantly occupy external pseudoaxial positions relative to the cylindrical axis of the molecule. In contrast to meso-valinomycin, only four of the six Val carbonyl oxygen atoms are directed inwards to form a coordination centre for the molecule, and the carbonyl oxygen atoms of residues D-Val1 and L-Val3 are twisted outward and point away from the centre of the molecule. Although the analogue has a partially formed ion-binding center, it is inaccessible because the hydrophobic isopropyl groups of the D-Hyi2 and L-Hyi4 residues screen the molecular cavity on both sides.     

Assignment of the aliphatic 1H and 13C resonances of the Bacillus subtilis glucose permease IIA domain using double- and triple-resonance heteronuclear three-dimensional NMR spectroscopy.

Nearly complete assignment of the aliphatic 1H and 13C resonances of the IIAglc domain of Bacillus subtilis has been achieved using a combination of double- and triple-resonance three-dimensional (3D) NMR experiments. A constant-time 3D triple-resonance HCA(CO)N experiment, which correlates the 1H alpha and 13C alpha chemical shifts of one residue with the amide 15N chemical shift of the following residue, was used to obtain sequence-specific assignments of the 13C alpha resonances. The 1H alpha and amide 15N chemical shifts had been sequentially assigned previously using principally 3D 1H-15N NOESY-HMQC and TOCSY-HMQC experiments [Fairbrother, W. J., Cavanagh, J., Dyson, H. J., Palmer, A. G., III, Sutrina, S. L., Reizer, J., Saier, M. H., Jr., & Wright, P. E. (1991) Biochemistry 30, 6896-6907]. The side-chain spin systems were identified using 3D HCCH-COSY and HCCH-TOCSY spectra and were assigned sequentially on the basis of their 1H alpha and 13C alpha chemical shifts. The 3D HCCH and HCA(CO)N experiments rely on large heteronuclear one-bond J couplings for coherence transfers and therefore offer a considerable advantage over conventional 1H-1H correlation experiments that rely on 1H-1H 3J couplings, which, for proteins the size of IIAglc (17.4 kDa), may be significantly smaller than the 1H line widths. The assignments reported herein are essential for the determination of the high-resolution solution structure of the IIAglc domain of B. subtilis using 3D and 4D heteronuclear edited NOESY experiments; these assignments have been used to analyze 3D 1H-15N NOESY-HMQC and 1H-13C NOESY-HSQC spectra and calculate a low-resolution structure [Fairbrother, W. J., Gippert, G. P., Reizer, J., Saier, M. H., Jr., & Wright, P. E. (1992) FEBS Lett. 296, 148-152].     

Theoretical study of the discrimination between O(2) and CO by myoglobin

Combined quantum chemical and molecular mechanics geometry optimisations have been performed on myoglobin without or with O(2) or CO bound to the haem group. The results show that the distal histidine residue is protonated on the N(epsilon 2) atom and forms a hydrogen bond to the haem ligand both in the O(2) and the CO complexes. We have also re-refined the crystal structure of CO[bond]myoglobin by a combined quantum chemical and crystallographic refinement. Thereby, we probably obtain the most accurate available structure of the active site of this complex, showing a Fe[bond]C[bond]O angle of 171 degrees, and Fe[bond]C and C[bond]O bond lengths of 170-171 and 116-117 pm. The resulting structures have been used to calculate the strength of the hydrogen bond between the distal histidine residue and O(2) or CO in the protein. This amounts to 31-33 kJ/mol for O(2) and 2-3 kJ/mol for CO. The difference in hydrogen-bond strength is 21-22 kJ/mol when corrected for entropy effects. This is slightly larger than the observed discrimination between O(2) or CO by myoglobin, 17 kJ/mol. We have also estimated the strain of the active site inside the protein. It is 2-4 kJ/mol larger for the O(2) complex than for the CO complex, independent of which crystal structure the calculations are based on. Together, these results clearly show that myoglobin discriminates between O(2) and CO mainly by electrostatic interactions, rather than by steric strain.     

The arsonomethyl group as an analogue of phosphate. An X-ray investigation.

The X-ray structure analysis of three compounds of interest as enzyme substrates is reported. They are the hydrated forms of (I) DL-2-amino-4-arsonobutanoic acid [HO-AsO2--CH2-CH2-CH(NH3+)-CO2H], (II) DL-2-amino-4-phosphonobutanoic acid [HO-PO2--CH2-CH2-CH(NH3+)-CO2H] and the hydrated barium salt of (III) D-3-phosphoglycerate [HO-PO2--O-CH2-CH(OH)-CO2-]. The structures were fully refined to R factors of 0.033, 0.053 and 0.046. For the compounds (I) and (II) the charge distribution was directly determined by locating all H atoms. The co-ordination around As and P is approximately tetrahedral, with the valency angle between the two charged O atoms enlarged to 112 degrees in compound (I), 166 degrees in compound (II) and 122 degrees in compound (III). The As-X bond distances are increased relative to P-X to accommodate the increased atomic radius. The analysis establishes that the compounds are structural analogues. Tables of co-ordinates for H atoms, anisotropic thermal parameters, bond lengths and bond angles for the three compounds have been deposited as Supplementary Publication SUP 50122 (5 pages) with the British Library Lending Division, Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 7BQ, U.K., from whom copies can be obtained directly [see Biochem J. (1983) 209, 5].     

The hydration shell of myoglobin

The space in the unit cell of a metmyoglobin crystal not occupied by myoglobin atoms was filled with water using Monte Carlo calculations. Independent calculations with different amounts of water have been performed. Structure factors were calculated using the water coordinates thus obtained and the known coordinates of the myoglobin atoms. A comparison with experimental structure factors showed that both the low and the high resolution regime could be well reproduced with 814 Monte Carlo water molecules per unit cell with a B-value of 50 Ų. The Monte Carlo water molecules yield a smaller standard R-value (0.166) than using a homogeneous electron density for the simulation of the crystal water (R = 0.212). A reciprocal space refinement of the water and the protein coordinates has been performed. Monte Carlo calculations can be used to obtain information for crystallographically invisible parts of the unit cell and yield better coordinates for the visible part in the refinement. Correspondence to: F. Parak     

X-ray refinement study on the binding of cytidylic acid (2'-CMP) to ribonuclease A

The X-ray structure of the inhibitor complex of bovine ribonuclease A with cytidylic acid (2'-CMP) has been determined at 2.3 A (1 A = 0.1 nm) resolution and refined by restrained least-squares refinement to R = 0.132 for 5650 reflections. Incorporation of the inhibitor molecule has occurred with little disturbance of the protein main-chain atoms, although significant displacement of some side-chain atoms has occurred, particularly in the region of the active site. The binding of 2'-CMP to ribonuclease A is different from that of the related cytidine-N(3)-oxide 2'-phosphate, which has an extra oxygen on N(3) of the cytidine base. The PO4(2-) group is held by hydrogen bond interactions to the side-groups of His 12, Glu 11 and His119. Thr45 is involved in stabilizing the enzyme-ligand complex by forming hydrogen bond interactions between O(gamma) and the pyrimidine base N(3) atom and between the main-chain N(45) and O(2) of the base. Phe120 is much closer to the inhibitor than in the cytidine N(3)-oxide 2'-phosphate structure.     

Molecular conformation of a D,L stereoisomeric analogue of valinomycin, cyclo[-(L-Val-L-Hyi-L-Val-D-Hyi)2-(D-Val-L-Hyi-L-Val-D-Hyi)-

The crystal structure of a synthetic analogue of valinomycin, cyclo[-(L-Val-L-Hyi-L-Val-D-Hyi)2-(D-Val-L-Hyi-L-Val-D -Hyi)-] ([L-Val1, L-Val5]meso-valinomycin), C60H102N6O18, has been determined. Crystals grown from petroleum ether are orthorhombic, space group P2(1)2(1)2(1), with cell parameters a = 16.41(1), b = 18.76(1), c = 25.86(1) A, and Z = 4. The atomic coordinates for nonhydrogen atoms, except those of terminal carbons on one side chain, were refined in the anisotropic thermal motion approximation. The coordinate parameters of the H atoms were incorporated into the structure factor calculations at geometrically expected positions. Values of the standard and weighted R factors after refinement are 0.074 and 0.083, respectively. The crystal structure of the molecule is asymmetric and adopts a conformation with four 4----1 type and one 6----1 type intramolecular hydrogen bonds between amide nitrogens and carbonyl oxygens. Valinomycin binds potassium more than 100 times strongly than the D,L stereoisomeric analogue, as a result of a different spatial orientation of potentially interacting carbonyl groups.     

X-ray crystal structure of the fluoride derivative of Aplysia limacina ferric myoglobin at 2.0 A resolution. Stabilization of the fluoride ion by hydrogen bonding to Arg66 (E10)

The X-ray crystal structure of the fluoride derivative of Aplysia limacina ferric myoglobin has been solved and refined at 2.0 A resolution; the crystallographic R-factor is 13.6%. The fluoride ion binds to the sixth co-ordination position of the heme iron, 2.2 A from the metal. Binding of the negatively charged ligand on the distal side of the heme pocket of this myoglobin, which lacks the distal His, is associated with a network of hydrogen bonds that includes the fluoride ion, the residue Arg66 (E10), the heme propionate III, three ordered water molecules and backbone or side-chain atoms from the CD region. A comparison of fluoride and oxygen dissociation rate constants of A. limacina myoglobin, sperm whale (Physeter catodon) myoglobin and Glycera dibranchiata monomeric hemoglobin, suggests that the conformational readjustment of Arg66 (E10) in A. limacina myoglobin may represent the molecular basis for ligand stabilization, in the absence of a hydrogen-bond donor residue at the distal E7 position.     

NMR study of Galeorhinus japonicus myoglobin. 1H-NMR evidence for a structural alteration on the active site of G. japonicus myoglobin upon azide ion binding

The heme molecular structure of the met-azido form of the myoglobin from the shark Galeorhinus japonicus has been investigated by 1H NMR. A nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) was clearly observed among the heme peripheral side-chain proton signals of this complex, which undergoes thermal spin equilibrium between high-spin (S = 5/2) and low-spin (S = 1/2) states, and the NOE connectivities provided the assignment of the resonances from the heme C13(1)H2 and C17(1)H2 protons. Chemical shift inequivalence of these proton resonances not only provided information about the orientation of these methylene protons with respect to the heme plane, but also allowed characterization of the time-dependent build-up of the NOE between them, which yields the correlation time for the internal motion of the inter-proton vector. The relatively large mobility found for the C17(1)H2 group suggests that the carboxyl oxygen of the heme C17 propionate is not anchored to the apo-protein by a salt bridge. It has been shown that the ferric high-spin form of G. japonicus Mb possesses a penta-coordinated heme [Suzuki, T. (1987) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 914, 170-176; Yamamoto, Y., Osawa, A., Inoue, Y., Ch?j?, R. & Suzuki, T. (1990) Eur. J. Biochem. 192, 225-229] and that the conformation of both heme propionate groups is fixed with respect to the heme, as well as the apo-protein, by a salt bridge [Yamamoto, Y., Inoue, Y., Ch?j?, R. & Suzuki, T. (1990) Eur. J. Biochem. 189, 567-573]. Therefore the weakening or interruption of the interaction between the C17 propionate and His FG3 upon the changes of the coordination and spin state of the heme iron, during azide ion binding to ferric high-spin G. japonicus Mb, is attributed to the displacement of the FG corner of the apoprotein away from the heme C17 propionate group. A similar structural alteration has been revealed by X-ray structural analyses of unliganded and liganded forms of ferrous hemoproteins [Baldwin, J. & Chothia, C. (1979) J. Mol. Biol. 129, 175-220; Phillips, S.E.V. (1980) J. Mol. Biol. 142, 531-554].