Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Studies on Hemoglobin

Abstract

Nuclear magnetic resonance studies on the cooperative oxygen binding in hemoglobin are reviewed. First brief descriptions of NMR methods of variousl nuclei are made by typical examples found in hemoglobin studies. Then the recent interests in hemoglobin are categorized in four chapters, the allosteric transition between the two states with different functional properties, the presence of hemoglobin molecules with intermediate structure, α-β nonequivalency and the location of the interaction energy. Those topics are discussed mainly with NMR results in order to show the merit and limitation of the technique.