Hemoglobin

Hemoglobin is a commonly illustrated example of a
biologically important protein. The primary role of hemoglobin is
for transport of oxygen. The structure below is the deoxygenated
form of hemoglobin from a Antartic fish, taken from the Brookhaven Protein Database
(structure ref = 1HBH, authors = N. Ito, N.H. Komiyama, and G.
Fermi).

In order to view this molecule correctly, you
must have the CHIME
Plug-in properly installed. To rotate this molecule, move
your pointer over the structure, then hold the button down while
'dragging' the pointer.





    
    

        
Protein

        
        Off

        
        Wireframe

        
        Ball & Stick

        
        Spacefilling

        
        Backbone

        
        Ribbons

        
        Ribbons +

        
        Polar

        
        Hydrophobic

        
        Quaternary Balls

        
        Quaternary Space

        
        Quaternary Ribbon

        

        

        Solvent

        
        Off

        
        Ball & Stick 
        
 
        
Iron
        Heme

        
        Off

        
        Wireframe

        
        Ball & Stick

        
        Spacefilling

        
        Near Fe (5.0 A)

         

         

        Lighting

         100%

         75%

         60%

         40%
    



Quaternary structure

Hemoglobin is a classic example of a molecule that illustrates
quaternary structure. This compound contains four separate
polypeptide chains that are held fairly tightly together by a
large number of intermolecular forces. While these four chains
cannot easily be seen in any of the protein views, selecting
"Quaternary Balls" or "Quaternary Space"
provides diagrams where each of the chains is colored
differently.










This page was last modified on September
01, 1997

and was written and is maintained by Clarke Earley

Kent State University
Stark Campus

Department
of Chemistry

email: cearley@stark.kent.edu


© 1997 by Clarke Earley, Kent State
University.