Legumes have a kind of hemoglobin called Leghemoglobin, it is red like other
hemoglobins. BRBR

This is news to me. Plants have hemoglobin? I thought it was only for animals.
I thought chlorophyll was the plant equivalent of hemoglobin. What do plants do
with hemoglobin?
Iris
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

In article ,
wrote...

Legumes have a kind of hemoglobin called Leghemoglobin, it is red like
other
hemoglobins. BRBR

This is news to me. Plants have hemoglobin? I thought it was only for animals.
I thought chlorophyll was the plant equivalent of hemoglobin. What do plants
do
with hemoglobin?

Legumes have "leghemoglobin" in the root nodules. It has something
to do with helping nitrogen fixation by the symbiotic bacteria by
regulating their oxygenation:

http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ult...nFixation.html
http://www.forages.psu.edu/topics/es...n/process.html
http://www.cifn.unam.mx/Plant_Molecu...ar_biology.htm
http://www.cahe.nmsu.edu:16080/pubs/_a/a-129.pdf
etc.

cheers

Iris Cohen wrote:

Legumes have a kind of hemoglobin called Leghemoglobin, it is red like other
hemoglobins. BRBR

This is news to me. Plants have hemoglobin?

Not impossible, since chlorophyll and hemoglobin differ only in the metal
at their center.

I thought it was only for animals.
I thought chlorophyll was the plant equivalent of hemoglobin. What do plants do
with hemoglobin?
Iris
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

In article , Dr. Rev. Chuck, M.D.
P.A. writes

Not impossible, since chlorophyll and hemoglobin differ only in the metal
at their center.

Chlorophyll and heme differ in the metal at their centre (magnesium
versus iron). They also differ otherwise - see

http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/chlor...orophyll_h.htm
http://omlc.ogi.edu/spectra/hemoglobin/hemestruct/

Note that there are (at least) five different chlorophylls.

Hemoglobin is a large protein with attached to a heme. It is not the
only such protein - others include catalase, cytochrome C, cytochrome
c554, ferritin, and hemopexin. Google is your friend.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

Not impossible, since chlorophyll and hemoglobin differ only in the metal at
their center. BRBR

I was aware of that. Calcium in chlorophyll and iron in hemoglobin.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

Chlorophyll and heme differ in the metal at their centre (magnesium versus
iron). BRBR

I thought it was calcium.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

In article , Iris Cohen
writes
I thought it was calcium.

See reference given for structure of chlorophyll.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

Yes, plants (legumes) do have leghemoglobin. It is actually about ten
times better at moppping up oxygen than ours. The enzyme responsible
for nitrogen fixation in the Rhizobia bacteria in the root nodules is
very sensitive to oxygen and has a half-life of about 30 minutes in
air. Most people reckon that leghaemoglobin is only partly responsible
for keeping oxygen away from nitrogenase, and that the architecture of
the nodules is more important.
Best Wishes,
Martin Hodson

From: (Iris Cohen)

Not impossible, since chlorophyll and hemoglobin differ only in the metal
at
their center.

I was aware of that. Calcium in chlorophyll and iron in hemoglobin

The ring based structure is very similar, differing in only a few bits here and
there. Chlorophyll actually has Magnesium.

Here for Chlorophyll.
http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/chlor...orophyll_h.htm

Here for Heme. http://omlc.ogi.edu/spectra/hemoglobin/hemestruct/

Sean



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From: (Iris Cohen)

Chlorophyll and heme differ in the metal at their centre (magnesium versus
iron).

I thought it was calcium.

We all have to take turns being wrong. Your day is now up, let someone else be
wrong now.

Sean



--
Visit my photolog page; http://members.aol.com/grommit383/myhomepage
Last updated 08-04-02 with 15 pictures of the Aztec Ruins.
Address mungled. To email, please spite my face.