Oxygen allosteric behavior

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-... 

RBCs thus exhibit the requisite dependence on Hb oxygen-saturation, apparently coupled to the allosteric behavior of Hb [41]. 

Addition of substrate, which here is synonymous to the allosteric effector, shifts the equilibrium from the low affinity T-form to the substantially more catalytically active R-form. Since one substrate molecule activates four catalytically active sites, the steep rise in enzyme activity after only a slight increase in substrate concentration is not unexpected. In this model it is important that the RT conformation is not permitted. All subunits must be in the same conformational state at one time to conserve the symmetry of the protomers. The equation given by Hill in 1913, derived from the sigmoidal absorption of oxygen by hemoglobin, is also suitable for a quantitative description of allosteric enzymes with sigmoidal behavior ... 

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