BIOCHEMISTRY - Textbook - Ostapchenko L. I. - 2012

Chapter 5. STRUCTURE, PROPERTIES, AND FUNCTIONS OF PROTEINS

5.5. Functional Features of Oligomeric Proteins

Oligomeric Proteins exhibit properties that are absent in monomeric proteins. METABOLISM/18.html">The Influence of The quaternary Structure on the Functional Properties of a protein can be examined by comparing the STRUCTURE AND Functions of two related heme-containing Proteins: Myoglobin and Hemoglobin. Both share a common evolutionary origin, a similar conformation of individual polypeptide chains, and a similar function (they are involved in Oxygen transport), but myoglobin is a monomeric protein, whereas hemoglobin is a tetramer. The presence of a quaternary structure in hemoglobin imparts properties to this protein that myoglobin lacks.



Last update: 06/08/2026

Editorial and Educational Adaptation: This material has been compiled based on the primary/original source text. The project team performed an editorial review, corrected technical inaccuracies, structured sections, and adapted the content for an educational format.

What was processed:

  • elimination of formatting defects (OCR errors, structural breaks, corrupted characters);
  • editorial organization of content;
  • standardization of terminology in accordance with academic sources;
  • verification of factual statements against the original source text.

All mentions of the author, publication year, and origin of the primary text have been preserved in accordance with the source.