Figure 5 - full size

 

Figure 5.
Figure 5. Stereo views of the heme group environment in SCC-A. (a) side heme view and (b) view perpendicular to the heme plane. Carbon, oxygen and nitrogen atoms are represented as open, shaded and filled spheres, respectively. Hydrogen bonds are indicated by broken lines. The heme group, the azide molecule found in the distal side, the essential catalytic residues (His70, Ser109, Asn143, Arg351 and Tyr355), and two water molecules which are hydrogen-bonded to the propionic groups are explicitly shown in (a). The deprotonated oxygen of Tyr355, that makes two ionic hydrogen bonds with Arg351, acts as the proximal ligand of the iron atom (coordination is also indicated with a discontinuous bond). Residues that define the heme distal pocket are explicitly shown in (b). Asn68 interacts with Asp62 from the R related subunit (indicated by the symbol * in the Figure) and with a solvent molecule which starts a chain of water molecules that reach the central cavity of the catalase molecules (see the text). Neither the main-chain oxygen atom of cis-Pro69 nor the side-chain oxygen atom of Asn143 form standard hydrogen bonds and might interact with the heme ring.

The above figure is reprinted by permission from Elsevier: J Mol Biol (1999, 286, 135-149) copyright 1999.