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hemoglobin: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As haemoglobin

Photos and Videos

Diagram of the hemoglobin tetramer showing two alpha and two beta subunits, each in a different color, with four heme groups labeled, each containing a central iron atom for oxygen binding.
Diagram tracing the evolutionary history of globin genes from a single ancestral globin gene, with branching lines and dots marking gene duplication events over millions of years, leading to myoglobin and various hemoglobin genes on chromosomes 16 and 11.
A line graph compares the evolutionary rates of three proteins-fibrinopeptides (very fast), hemoglobin (intermediate), and cytochrome c (slow)-by showing amino acid changes per 100 residues over millions of years since divergence from a common ancestor, with geological time periods and major organism groups labeled along the axes.
Learn about the oxygen-transporting function and molecular structure of the protein hemoglobin
Close-up of a medical blood bag filled with red blood, showing attached tubes and connectors against a blurred background.
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Related Topics and References

Topics
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Key People

Maud Leonora Menten
Maud Leonora Menten
Canadian biochemist and organic chemist
Max Ferdinand Perutz (left) and John Cowdery Kendrew, 1962.
Max Ferdinand Perutz
British biochemist
George H. Whipple
George H. Whipple
American pathologist
default image
Ernst Felix Hoppe-Seyler
German physician

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