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.

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.