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MYOGLOBIN
Myoglobin is a haemoglobin-like, iron-containing pigment found in muscle fibres.
It consists of a single alpha polypeptide chain and binds only one oxygen molecule (as opposed to haemoglobin which binds 4 oxygen molecules).
The oxygen dissociation curve for myoglobin is hyperbolic (as opposed to the sigmoidal curve for haemoglobin) and is to the left of that for haemoglobin.
Myoglobin takes up oxygen from the haemoglobin in the blood and stores oxygen within the muscle itself.
This diagram shows the
hyperbolic dissociation curve
of myoglobin in comparison to
the sigmoidal curves of
various types of haemoglobin.Image reproduced from
Online Biology Book
(taken from Life: The Science of
Biology). Permission granted by
Linda Vanden Dolder, Permissions
Co-ordinator, Sinauer Associates.
Back to oxygen dissociation curve
