Computational Infrared and Two-Dimensional Infrared Photon Echo Spectroscopy of Both Wild-Type and Double Mutant Myoglobin-CO Proteins

The CO stretching mode of both wild-type and double mutant (T67R/S92D) MbCO (carbonmonoxymyoglobin) proteins is an ideal infrared (IR) probe for studying the local electrostatic environment inside the myoglobin heme pocket. Recently, to elucidate the conformational switching dynamics between two distinguishable states, extensive IR absorption, IR pump–probe, and two-dimensional (2D) IR spectroscopic studies for various mutant MbCO’s have been performed by the Fayer group. They showed that the 2D IR spectroscopy of the double mutant, which has a peroxidase enzyme activity, reveals a rapid chemical exchange between two distinct states, whereas that of the wild-type does not. Despite the fact that a few simulation studies on these systems were already performed and reported, such complicated experimental results have not been fully reproduced nor described in terms of conformational state-to-state transition processes. Here, we first develop a distributed vibrational solvatochromic charge model for describing the CO stretch frequency shift reflecting local electric potential changes. Then, by carrying out molecular dynamic simulations of the two MbCO’s and examining their CO frequency trajectories, it becomes possible to identify a proper reaction coordinate consisting of His64 imidazole ring rotation and its distance to the CO ligand. From the 2D surfaces of the resulting potential of mean forces, the spectroscopically distinguished A₁ and A₃ states of the wild-type as well as two more substates of the double mutant are identified and their vibrational frequencies and distributions are separately examined. Our simulated IR absorption and 2D IR spectra of the two MbCO’s are directly compared with the previous experimental results reported by the Fayer group. The chemical exchange rate constants extracted from the two-state kinetic analyses of the simulated 2D IR spectra are in excellent agreement with the experimental values. On the basis of the quantitative agreement between the simulated spectra and experimental ones, we further examine the conformational differences in the heme pockets of the two proteins and show that the double mutation, T67R/S92D, suppresses the A₁ population, restricts the imidazole ring rotation, and increases hydrogen-bond strength between the imidazole N_ε–H and the oxygen atom of the CO ligand. It is believed that such delicate change of distal His64 imidazole ring dynamics induced by the double mutation may be responsible for its enhanced peroxidase catalytic activity as compared to the wild-type myoglobin