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News Release 04-055
Oldest Hemoglobin Ancestors Offer Clues to Earliest Oxygen-Based Life
Close look at structure of transport proteins could aid search for future blood substitutes
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This snapshot comes from an animated simulation of the molecular dynamics of an A. pernix protoglobin model developed at the Maui High Performance Computing Center. It shows a histidine amino acid attached to the iron-based heme group. Using information from the Protein Data Bank, a simulation of protoglobin demonstrated that at 100 degrees C (or 212 Fahrenheit) over one nanosecond the protoglobin does not denature.
The colors represent various chemical characteristics: red signifies acidic; blue, basic; white, neutral; green, neutral but polar; and yellow, residues that influence the “heme cleft.”
Credit: Image and simulation by James Newhouse, MHPCC
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