Bis-histidine-coordinated hemes in four-helix bundles: how the geometry of the bundle controls the axial imidazole plane orientations in transmembrane cytochromes of mitochondrial complexes II and III and related proteins

Early investigation of the electron paramagnetic resonance spectra of bis-histidine-coordinated membrane-bound ferriheme proteins led to the description of a spectral signal that had only one resolved feature. These became known as highly anisotropic low-spin or large g(max) ferriheme centers. Extensive work with small-molecule model heme complexes showed that this spectroscopic signature occurs in bis-imidazole ferrihemes in which the planes of the imidazole ligands are nearly perpendicular, Delta phi = 57-90 degrees. In the last decade protein crystallographic studies have revealed the atomic structures of a number of examples of bis-histidine heme proteins. A frequent characteristic of these large g(max) ferrihemes in membrane-bound proteins is the occurrence of the heme within a four-helix bundle with a left-handed twist. The histidine ligands occur at the same level on two diametrically opposed helices of the bundle. These ligands have the same side-chain conformation and ligate heme iron on the bundle axis, resulting in a quasi-twofold symmetric structure. The two non-ligand-bearing helices also obey this symmetry, and have a conserved small residue, usually glycine, where the edge of the heme ring makes contact with the helix backbones. In many cases this small residue is preceded by a threonine or serine residue whose side-chain hydroxyl oxygen acts as a hydrogen-bond acceptor from the N-delta 1 atom of the heme-ligating histidine. The Delta phi angle is thus determined by the common histidine side-chain conformation and the crossing angle of the ligand-bearing helices, in some cases constrained by hydrogen bonds to the serine/threonine residues on the non-ligand-bearing helices.