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Hemoglobin Chico was discovered in an asymptomatic 3-year-old boy when a mild anemia was detected by a routine blood count. Affected individuals in three generations are also mildly anemic. The abnormal hemoglobin amounts to about 45% of the total. It separates from Hb A by cellulose acetate electrophoresis at pH 8.5 with a mobility similar to Hb J but does not separate in citrate agar at pH 6.2. Stability in isopropanol is slightly decreased. Its structure differs from the normal by the substitution of a threonyl residue for lysyl residue at position 66(E10) of the beta chain. The P50 of the oxygen equilibrium curve of whole blood at 37 degrees C was 38 torr compared with controls of 27 +/- 2 torr. The P50 binding studies of the isolated Hb Chico revealed a unique right shift of the equilibrium curve with an oxygen binding constant (1/P50) about half of normal. The remaining allosteric properties were essentially normal. This significant decrease in oxygen affinity appears to be due to changes in the heme region which result from the substitution of the normal beta 66 lysyl by the threonyl residue.

Eleven members of a large Finnish family from Astoria, Oregon were studied because of an erythrocytosis. No abnormality was detected by the usual hemoglobin electrophoretic tests, but an abnormal variant was separated by reverse phase HPLC. All of the affected individuals have an increased oxygen affinity with a P50 for whole blood at 37 degrees C averaging 18 torr. Fifty percent of their hemoglobin was found to have a threonyl residue in place of the normal prolyl residue at position 36 (C2) of the beta globin chain. This abnormality is identical to Hb Linkoping which was recently reported in a Finnish man living in Sweden.

Studies of abnormal and chemically modified haemoglobins indicate that in 0.1 M-NaCl about 40% of the alkaline Bohr effect of human haemoglobin is contributed by the C-terminal histidine HC3(146) beta. In deoxyhaemoglobin, the imidazole of this histidine forms a salt bridge with aspartate FG1(94) beta, in oxyhaemoglobin or carbonmonoxyhaemoglobin it accepts a hydrogen bond from its own NH group instead. Kilmartin et al. (1973) showed that in 0.2 M-NaCl + 0.2 M-phosphate this change of ligation lowered the pKa of the histidine from 8.0 in Hb to 7.1 in HbCO, but Russu et al. (1980) claimed that in bis-Tris buffer without added NaCl its pKa in HbCO dropped no lower than 7.85, and that in this medium the C-terminal histidine made only a negligible contribution to the alkaline Bohr effect. We have compared the histidine resonances of HbCO A with those of three abnormal haemoglobins: HbCO Cowtown (His HC3(146)beta----Leu), HbCO Wood (His FG4(97)beta----Leu) and HbCO Malmø (His FG4(97)beta----Gln). Our results show that the resonance assigned by Russu et al. to His HC3(146)beta in fact belongs to His FG4(97)beta. Although in Hb the pKa of His HC3(146)beta is 8.05 +/- 0.05 independent of ionic strength, in HbCO its pKa drops sharply with diminishing ionic strength, so that in the buffer employed by Russu et al. it has a pKa of 6.2 and makes a contribution to the alkaline Bohr effect that is 57% larger than in the phosphate buffer employed by Kilmartin et al. (1973). In HbCO A, His FG4(97)beta does not contribute to the Bohr effect, but in HbCO from which His HC3(146)beta has been cleaved (HbCO des-His), His FG4(97)beta is in equilibrium between two conformations with different pKa values. This equilibrium varies with ionic strength and pH, and presumably also with degree of ligation of the haem moiety. In HbCO A, His FG4(97)beta has a pKa of 7.8 compared to the pKa value of about 6.6 characteristic of free histidines at the surface of proteins. This high pKa is accounted for by its interaction with the negative pole at the C terminus of helices F and FG. It corresponds to a free energy change of the same order as that observed in the interaction of histidines with carboxylate ions and confirms the strongly dipolar character of alpha-helices, which manifests itself even when they lie on the surface of the protein.

The bifunctional reagent 4,4'-diisothiocyanostilbene-2,2'-disulfonate (DIDS) reacts with hemoglobin to give various products whose properties are dependent on the ligation state of the protein during the reaction. A major product obtained after reaction of (carbonmonoxy)hemoglobin with DIDS was a high oxygen affinity derivative [P50 = 1.4 mmHg, control P50 = 6 mmHg; 50 mM [bis(2-hydroxyethyl)-amino]tris(hydroxymethyl)methane (Bis-Tris), pH 7.4, 0.1 M Cl-, 25 degrees C] which contained two molecules of DIDS per tetramer resulting from adduct formation at each beta-chain amino terminus. In contrast, a major product of the reaction of deoxyhemoglobin with DIDS consisted of hemoglobin which had incorporated one molecule of DIDS per tetramer and was cross-linked between the beta-chain amino termini. This cross-linked hemoglobin was found to have a greatly decreased O2 affinity (P50 = 28 mmHg). Inhibition of the T to R transition due to the structural constraint produced by cross-linking the beta amino termini is likely to be a major factor in the decreased O2 affinity of this product. The structural and functional properties of this molecule make it a potential candidate for a cell-free blood substitute.

Periodate-oxidized adenosine triphosphate (o-ATP), a ribose ring-opened dialdehyde derivative of ATP, reacts specifically with human deoxyhemoglobin to give a single major covalently modified product after reduction with sodium borohydride. This product, designated di-ATP Hb, was isolated using ion-exchange chromatography and shown to have incorporated two molecules of o-ATP/tetramer. Peptide mapping and x-ray crystallography at 2.8-A resolution indicate that a covalent adduct is formed between the ligand and residues Lys-82 EF6 of each beta chain in the organic phosphate-binding site of the molecule. di-ATP Hb exhibits a significantly decreased oxygen affinity (P50 = 20.8 mm Hg versus 5.8 mm Hg control; 50 mM 2-[bis(2-hydroxyethyl)amino]-2-(hydroxymethyl)-propane-1,3-diol, pH 7.4, 0.1 M C, 20 degrees C). The subunit cooper-activity of di-ATP Hb is also reduced (nmax = 1.9 versus 2.7 control).