BCMB20002 Lecture 9: Summary Notes

• School: University of Melbourne
• Department: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Course: BCMB20002
• Professor: Terry Mulhern

Document Summary

All figures from lecture 9 slides of t. mulhern, melbourne university, march 2017 (unless stated) Theta = fraction of binding sites that are occupied. X-axis = concentration of free ligand (po2 here for gas) Inside of lungs is more like outside of the body (atmospheric pressure), compared to the muscles. and release o2 efficiently in the tissues (po2 ~4 kpa) in the tissues. Just full all the time. enough o2 in the lungs. If hb bound o2 only with low affinity, it would not pick up. If hb bound o2 only with high affinity, it would not release o2. Hb has to bind o2 efficiently in the lungs (where po2 ~ 13 kpa) Hb achieves this through its quaternary structure of 4 subunits. Hb switches from the low-affinity t state to the high-affinity r state as more o2 molecules are bound.