Heme

//hiːm// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The component of hemoglobin (and other hemoproteins) responsible for binding oxygen. It consists of an iron ion that binds oxygen and a porphyrin ring that binds the globin molecules; one molecule binds one molecule of oxygen. countable, uncountable

    "The binding of oxygen to the iron molecule causes the hemoglobin molecule to undergo conformational changes that affect the binding of oxygen to other heme sites."

  2. 2
    a complex red organic pigment containing iron and other atoms to which oxygen binds wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
haemhaematinhaemitinhematinprotoheme

Example

More examples

"The binding of oxygen to the iron molecule causes the hemoglobin molecule to undergo conformational changes that affect the binding of oxygen to other heme sites."

Etymology

Back-formation from hemoglobin.

Related phrases

red blood cell

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.