1) Myoglobin and Hemoglobin. Dioxygen (O 2 ) binds to certain coordinatively unsaturated transition metal ions, forming O 2 complexes. Biological dioxygen carriers are reversible O 2 complexes in which the extent of binding depends on temperature, partial pressure of oxygen, and pH.Myoglobin (Mb) and hemoglobin (Hb) are the most common reversible O 2 binders in biological systems; they are responsible for the storage and transport of O 2 in most aerobic organisms. Myoglobin and hemoglobin are structurally similar. Myoglobin contains one heme prosthetic group; hemoglobin consists of four Mb-like subunits (2R + 2 ), each containing one heme prosthetic group.Myoglobin stores O 2 in muscles to permit short bursts of metabolism at rates much greater than those which would be allowed by circulatory oxygen transport. In its native deoxy form (Figure 1), the ferrous ion of the heme is in a five-coordinate high-spin state (S ) 2), with the imidazole group (His 93) serving as the axial ligand on the proximal side. Myoglobin reversibly binds molecular oxygen in the sixth, distal, vacant coordination site. Distal amino acid residues (e.g., His 64) control the immediate environment. They can induce polar, hydrophobic, or steric interactions which help regulate the affinities of the bound ligands.Hemoglobin, on the other hand, transports O 2 in blood and adjusts binding affinity to various conditions required for appropriate uptake and release of O 2 through a series of allosteric interactions. 1,2 Through the "allosteric effect", the subsequent gas binding affinity of Hb is made greater in the presence of O 2 or carbon monoxide (CO) than in their absence. Myoglobin, having only one heme site per protein, shows no such effect.(2) Control of Ligand-Binding Thermodynamics. Evidence to date suggests that the amino acid residues on the distal porphyrin face are capable of stabilizing the oxygen adduct while destabilizing the competing complex derived from binding of the endogenous toxic ligand CO. 3 Studies have shown that, in the absence of the globin protein, imidazole-ligated heme has a CO affinity much greater than that of the protein-bound heme, indicating that the protein plays a role in decreasing CO affinity. 4 The most significant distal effect invoked in the stabilization of O 2 in Hb is the hydrogen-bonding interaction between coordinated O 2 and the distal histidine, which was initially proposed by Pauling. 5 Subsequent experiments have provided evidence for H-bonding of ironbound dioxygen with the distal histidine. 6-10 A unique Hb from the bloodworm Ascaris (shown in Figure 2) has a remarkably high affinity for O 2 , nearly 10 4 times that of mammalian Hb. 11,12 The origin of this high O 2 affinity is believed to be (1) a strong H-bond between tyrosine (Tyr