Heme groups are very important in many processes and reactions in living organis

Question

Heme groups are very important in many processes and reactions in living organisms.

a.List three ways you have encountered in biochemistry where heme is used, and in each case indicate how it is functioning there.

b. The pyrrole ring is critical for the structure of the heme group. Define what is meant by the pyrrole ring by circling it in an image of the heme structure.

c.Write out the pathway by which the basic pyrrole ring is formed, using chemical structures for the main substrates and products. (Do not write out the whole heme pathway.)

d. Indicate where the substrates needed for pyrrole ring formation came from in metabolism

Explanation / Answer

a)

(i)Hemoglobin is the quantitatively most important hemoprotein. It has a major role in oxygen transport in mammals. Heme is the cofactor found in myoglobin, oxygen binding hemoprotein in muscles.

(ii) Cytochromes present in the mitochondria and in the endoplasmic reticulum also have heme cofactor. Cytochromes play crucial roles in electron transports.

(iii) Tryptophan oxygenase is a hemoprotein of intermediary metabolism.

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