Oxygen utilization by nonvertebrate globins: A resonance Raman investigation^†

32-38There has been a renewed interest in understanding the function of hemoglobins in recent years because of their diverse cellular locations and unique physical properties. Although the non vertebrate hemoglobins bind dioxygen and other ligands just as the vertebrate hemoglobins, the kinetic and structural properties of the oxygen complexes differ significantly suggesting functional diversity. This paper describes our recent work on a series of nonvertebrate hemoglobins using state-of the- art resonance Raman spectroscopy with the aim of deciphering various biological oxygen utilization mechanisms