Biophysical Journal 63: 1605-1612 (1992)
© 1992 the Biophysical Society

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Softening of the packing density of horseradish peroxidase by a H-donor bound near the heme pocket

J. Fidy ^*, J. M. Vanderkooi , J. Zollfrank  and J. Friedrich 

Institute of Biophysics, Semmelweis Medical University, Budapest, H-1444, Hungary
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA
Physikalisches Institut und Bayreuther Institut für Makromolekülforschung, Universität Bayreuth, D-8580 Bayreuth, Germany

ABSTRACT

We use pressure tuning of spectral holes to estimate the compressibility of protein molecules by optical means. We found that the compressibility of mesoporphyrin-substituted horseradish peroxidase increases by a factor of three when it incorporates small aromatic H-donor molecules that bind in the vicinity of its heme pocket. Such a dramatic softening of its packing density corresponds to a jump from a compressibility range characteristic for the solid state into that characteristic for liquids.

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