Topic: HEMOGLOBINThis course is designed to introduce students to the various technologies and their application to understanding the structure and function and of proteins. For your "Protein...

1 answer below »

View more »
Answered 1 days AfterNov 01, 2022

Answer To: Topic: HEMOGLOBINThis course is designed to introduce students to the various technologies and their...

Dr Shweta answered on Nov 02 2022
56 Votes
Role of Bioinformatics in the investigation of 3 -D structure of Hemoglobin
· Introduction:
Hemoglobin or the ball of blood is an iron containing oxygen and carbon-dioxide carrying protein which is located in the red blood cells. It helps in the transfer of oxygen from lungs to tissues and body's organs and transports of carbon dioxide from tissues and organs back to the lungs. This oxygen is then utilized in the cells for the aerobic respiratio
n of food to generate chemical energy in the form of ATP required for the sustainment of life [1]. A healthy person contains approximately 12 to 20 grams of Hemoglobin/100 mL of blood. The oxygen-binding capacity of Hemoglobin is 1.34 mL O2 per gram of Hemoglobin and hence it upsurges the total oxygen carrying capacity of blood by seventy-fold as compared to the oxygen directly dissolved in the blood. Deficiency of Hemoglobin is known as anemia in which due to low count of red blood cells, the oxygen content of the blood reduces leads to fatigue and weakness [2].
· Role of Bioinformatics in the analysis of structure of Hemoglobin:
To study the molecular structure of Hemoglobin X-ray analysis or Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy method is used. And its secondary structure is analysed via bioinformatics with the help of its primary sequence and subunit gamma-2 protein sequence using the UNIPROT database in FASTA file format. UNIPROT is a collection of freely available database of sequence of proteins and their functions sequenced and arranged during the different Genome sequencing projects. It works along with the FASTA which is a sequence alignment software for DNA and protein [3]. Other than this, for its comparative analysis other bioinformatics tools can also be used. For instance, Chou and Fasman secondary structure prediction server [CFSSP] that helps in the prediction of secondary structure of Hemoglobin via its amino acid sequence. The Garnier–Osguthorpe Robson [GOR] method which also helps in the prediction of secondary structure of Hemoglobin via the method based on the information theory. It specifically analyses the amino acid sequences to predict the alpha helices, beta sheets, turns, and randomly coil secondary structures in the secondary structure of Hemoglobin. Self-optimized prediction method with alignment [SOPMA] is also an efficient tool used to predict the secondary structure of Hemoglobin according to its primary sequence [4].
Based on the results of X-ray analysis, NMR and bioinformatics data the molecular structure of Hemoglobin is explained as below:
· Molecular structure of Hemoglobin:
Molecular structure of Hemoglobin molecule is studied by the technique of X-ray crystallography and it is found that Hemoglobin is a complex tetrameric protein with a protein molecule with a 4-chain quaternary structure known as the tetramer. Its molecular structure is symbolized as (αβ)2 as it is made up of four polypeptide chains two Alpha chains and two beta chains arranges alternately as alpha then Beta then again Alpha and finally Beta. These chains are joined with each other with the help of non-covalent bonds. Along with this, Hemoglobin contains heme cofactor that has iron. In total there are four heme-iron complexes present in its structure with one haem in each of the polypeptide chain. The haem group present in each polypeptide chain has one iron in its ferrous Fe++ form and this hydrophobic heme is specifically joined with the hydrophobic protein pocket with the help of explicit non-covalent bonds. The red colour of Hemoglobin is due to the presence of this heme-iron complex which is composed of the elements carbon (C), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), nitrogen (N) and iron (Fe) [5]. The space-filling model of the molecular structure of haemoglobin as detected by the X-ray crystallography is shown as below in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Molecular structure of Haemoglobin
Image Courtesy: http://bioinformatics.org/jmoltutorials/jtat/hemoglobin/contents/contents.htm
In the lungs, where oxygen is present in large quantity, the molecule of oxygen (O2) binds with that of the atom of iron which is present in the ferrous form and transported with the blood. Later when it approaches near the tissue which requires oxygen the binding between ferrous and oxygen breaks and oxygen is released. Elemental oxygen occupied position in the pocket of the polypeptide chain of Hemoglobin and gets anchored there with the help of the nitrogen atom of histidine. The binding is so...
SOLUTION.PDF

Answer To This Question Is Available To Download

Related Questions & Answers

More Questions »

Submit New Assignment

Copy and Paste Your Assignment Here
April
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
2025
2025
2026
2027
SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
30
31
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
1
2
3
00:00
00:30
01:00
01:30
02:00
02:30
03:00
03:30
04:00
04:30
05:00
05:30
06:00
06:30
07:00
07:30
08:00
08:30
09:00
09:30
10:00
10:30
11:00
11:30
12:00
12:30
13:00
13:30
14:00
14:30
15:00
15:30
16:00
16:30
17:00
17:30
18:00
18:30
19:00
19:30
20:00
20:30
21:00
21:30
22:00
22:30
23:00
23:30