Life · life
Haemoglobin
Carrier · Fe, O
- Numbers
- Four oxygen molecules per protein, and about 270 million proteins in a single red blood cell.
- Kind
- Carrier
Function
Four subunits, each with an iron atom in a haem ring, each binding one oxygen molecule. Binding one makes the next easier, so it loads almost fully in the lungs and unloads sharply in tissue — the cooperativity is the whole trick.
Open on the Life shelf — the interactive card, the filters, and everything alongside it.