Question

What is the likely range of the Hill constant for the hemoglobin described in Problem 23?

Short answer

The range of the hill constant for the hemoglobin discussed in Problem 23 will most likely be 1.1 – 2.

Step-by-step solution

Hill constant

The Hill constant indicates the cooperativity of the hemoglobin-oxygen binding. It is commonly a measurement of the number of ligand molecules bound to a functional protein.

Hill constant range  

In cooperative binding, more than one subunit of a protein bind with the ligands. Hence, the Hill constant for a cooperative binding should have a value > 1.

At the same time, the hill constant should not be more than the number of the hemoglobin’s oxygen binding sites, which is 2.

Thus, in this case, the hill constant might range from 1.1 to 2.