Myoglobin (Mb) catalyzes a range of oxidation reactions in the presence of hydrogen peroxide(H
2O
2) through a peroxidase-li
ke cycle. C110A and Y103F variants of human Mb have been constructedto assess the effects of removing electron-rich oxidizable amino acids from the protein on the peroxidaseactivity of Mb: a point mutation at W14 failed to yield a viable protein. Point mutations at C110 andY103 did not result in significant changes to structural elements of the heme poc
ket, as judged by low-temperature electron paramagnetic spectroscopy (EPR) studies on the ground-state ferric proteins. However,compared to the native protein, the yield of globin radical (globin
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) was significantly decreased for theY103F but not the C110A variant Mb upon reaction of the respective proteins with H
2O
2. In contrastwith our expectation that inhibiting pathways of intramolecular electron transfer may lead to enhancedMb peroxidase activity, mutation of Y103 marginally decreased the rate constant for reaction of Mb withH
2O
2 (1.4-fold) as judged by stopped-flow
kinetic analyses. Consistent with this decrease in rate constant,steady-state analyses of Y103F Mb-derived thioanisole sulfoxidation indicated decreased
Vmax and increased
Km relative to the wild-type control. Additionally, thioanisole sulfoxidation proceeded with lower stereoselectivity, suggesting that Y103 plays a significant role in substrate binding and orientation in the hemepoc
ket of Mb. Together, these results show that electron transfer within the globin portion of the proteinis an important modulator of its stability and catalytic activity. Furthermore, the hydrogen-bonding networ
kinvolving the residues that line the heme poc
ket of Mb is crucial to both efficient peroxidase activity andstereospecificity.