Heme groups hemoglobin

The most conspicuous use of iron in biological systems is in our blood, where the erythrocytes are filled with the oxygen-binding protein hemoglobin. The red color of blood is due to the iron atom bound to the heme group in hemoglobin. Similar heme-bound iron atoms are present in a number of proteins involved in electron-transfer reactions, notably cytochromes. A chemically more sophisticated use of iron is found in an enzyme, ribo nucleotide reductase, that catalyzes the conversion of ribonucleotides to deoxyribonucleotides, an important step in the synthesis of the building blocks of DNA. 

A model for the allosteric behavior of hemoglobin is based on recent observations that oxygen is accessible only to the heme groups of the a-chains when hemoglobin is in the T conformational state. Perutz has pointed out that the heme environment of /3-chains in the T state is virtually inaccessible because of steric hindrance by amino acid residues in the E helix. This hindrance dis-... 

Cytochromes were first named and classified on the basis of their absorption spectra (Figure 21.9), which depend upon the structure and environment of their heme groups. The b cytochromes contain iron—protoporphyrin IX (Figure 21.10), the same heme found in hemoglobin and myoglobin. The c cytochromes contain heme c, derived from iron-protoporphyrin IX by the covalent attachment of cysteine residues from the associated protein. UQ-cyt c... 

Heme (C34H3204N4Fe) represents an iron-porphyrin complex that has a protoporphyrin nucleus. Many important proteins contain heme as a prosthetic group. Hemoglobin is the quantitatively most important hemoprotein. Others are cytochromes (present in the mitochondria and the endoplasmic reticulum), catalase and peroxidase (that react with hydrogen peroxide), soluble guanylyl cyclase (that converts guanosine triphosphate, GTP, to the signaling molecule 3, 5 -cyclic GMP) and NO synthases. 

Molecular oxygen is transported throughout the body by attaching to the iron(ll) atom in the heme group of hemoglobin. The iron(ll) atom lies at the center of a square planar complex formed by nitrogen atoms. When the O, molecule attaches to the iron, the plane of the heme group becomes distorted. 

Imately 65 X 55 X 50 It Is composed of four polypeptide chains each resembling quite closely the myoglobin chain The three dimensional structure of the subunits Is held together by weak noncovalent bonds The polar amino acid side chains are In contact with the solvent, and the nonpolar residues are located In the Interior of the molecule or In regions which form the contacts between chains The heme group Is located In a pocket In each chain residues In contact with heme are Invariable ( e are the same In different mammalian hemoglobins) and the bonds between heme and chain are hydrophobic Interactions Contacts between like chains (a-a are... 

T gure l, Tyx)-dimensioml presentation of the o-chain of human hemoglobin. 9, residues in contact th the heme group residues that participate in the ctrpi contact , residues that participate in the ai pt contact (3). 

Often unstable hemoglobins have a decreased number of heme groups. This number can be calculated from the optical densities of a solution of the cyanferrl derivative of the Isolated variant at 540 and at 280 nm using normal Hb-A as control. 

Torres, E. Baeza, A., and Vazquez-Duhalt, R., Chemical modification of heme group improves hemoglobin affinity for hydrophobic substrates in organic media. Journal of Molecular Catalysis, B-Enzymatic, 2002. 19 pp. 437—441. 

Hydroxyurea reacts with oxy, deoxy and metHb in vitro to form iron nitrosyl hemoglobin (HbNO) and transfers NO to 2-6% of the iron heme groups [115]. Trapping studies using cyanide and carbon monoxide indicate that hydroxyurea oxidizes both oxy and deoxyHb to metHb and reduces metHb to deoxyHb specifically identifying the reaction of hydroxyurea and metHb as the critical reaction in the formation of HbNO from hydroxyurea [115]. Scheme 7.16 depicts the proposed mechanisms of N O and HbNO formation during the reaction of deoxy and metHb with hydroxyurea. Oxidation of hydroxyurea by metHb produces deoxyHb and the nitroxide radical (25,... 

Pyridoxal phosphate is a required coenzyme for many enzyme-catalyzed reactions. Most of these reactions are associated with the metabolism of amino acids, including the decarboxylation reactions involved in the synthesis of the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin. In addition, pyridoxal phosphate is required for a key step in the synthesis of porphyrins, including the heme group that is an essential player in the transport of molecular oxygen by hemoglobin. Finally, pyridoxal phosphate-dependent reactions link amino acid metabolism to the citric acid cycle (chapter 16). 

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