The protein Hemoglobin carries a precious cargo - Oxygen

 

Each hemoglobin molecule is a tangle of 4 protein strands that look rather like twisted sausages! You could think of hemoglobin like a car, or at least a "go-cart" with its 4 proteins strands.

Inside each folded protein strand there is a heme that gives hemoglobin its name, and does the critical work of carrying the oxygen. It is made of a ring structure with an iron atom at the center.

Look at the molecule on the web, too. You might also be able to see it in 3-D , and follow the path of Oxygen as it enters the blood stream and attaches to a heme molecule.

 


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