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Oxygen binding and its allosteric control in hemoglobin of the primitive branchiopod crustacean Triops cancriformis

Branchiopod crustaceans are endowed with extracellular, high‐molecular‐mass hemoglobins (Hbs), the functional and allosteric properties of which have largely remained obscure. The Hb of the phylogenetically ancient Triops cancriformis (Notostraca) revealed moderate oxygen affinity, cooperativity and pH dependence (Bohr effect) coefficients: P50 = 13.3 mmHg, n50 = 2.3, and ϕ = −0.18, at 20 °C and pH 7.44 in Tris buffer. The in vivo hemolymph pH was 7.52. Bivalent cations increased oxygen affinity, Mg2+ exerting a greater effect than Ca2+. Analysis of cooperative oxygen binding in terms of the nested Monod–Wyman–Changeux (MWC) model revealed an allosteric unit of four oxygen‐binding sites and functional coupling of two to three allosteric units. The predicted 2 × 4 and 3 × 4 nested structures are in accord with stoichiometric models of the quarternary structure. The allosteric control mechanism of protons comprises a left shift of the upper asymptote of extended Hill plots which is ascribable to the displacement of the equilibrium between (at least) two high‐affinity (relaxed) states, similar to that found in extracellular annelid and pulmonate molluscan Hbs. Remarkably, Mg2+ ions increased oxygen affinity solely by displacing the equilibrium between the tense and relaxed conformations towards the relaxed states, which accords with the original MWC concept, but appears to be unique among Hbs. This effect is distinctly different from those of ionic effectors (bivalent cations, protons and organic phosphates) on annelid, pulmonate and vertebrate Hbs, which involve changes in the oxygen affinity of the tense and/or relaxed conformations.