Structures of a hemoglobin-based blood substitute: insights into the function of allosteric proteins.
Kroeger, K.S., Kundrot, C.E.(1997) Structure 5: 227-237
- PubMed: 9032082 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/s0969-2126(97)00181-0
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
1ABW, 1ABY - PubMed Abstract: 
. Potential blood substitutes can be based on hemoglobin. Two problems must be overcome with acellular hemoglobin-based blood substitutes, however: the oxygen affinity of purified human hemoglobin is too high for it to deliver oxygen to tissues, and hemoglobin tetramers dissociate into alphabeta dimers that can cause kidney damage. A modified form of hemoglobin, rHb 1.1, has reduced oxygen affinity as the result of an Asnbeta 108-->Lys mutation, and dimerization is prevented by the insertion of a glycine residue between the sequences of the normal alpha chains to produce one covalently continuous di-alpha-chain. Determination of the structure of rHb 1.1 would provide structure-based explanations for the altered properties of rHb 1.1.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0215, USA.