Hemoglobin the iron gets recycled. This process also produces one molecule of carbon monoxide for every molecule of heme degraded. Heme degradation is one of the few natural sources of carbon monoxide in the human body, and is responsible for the normal blood levels of carbon monoxide even in people breathing pure air. The other major final product of heme degradation is bilirubin. Increased levels of this chemical are detected in the blood if red blood cells are being destroyed more rapidly than usual. Improperly degraded hemoglobin protein or hemoglobin that has been released from the blood cells too rapidly can
Hemoglobin Hopkins-2 that causes sickle cell, which is a disorder in which red blood cells break down and become abnormally shaped. Hemoglobin S has two beta chains, whereas hemoglobin Hopkins-2 has two alpha chains. Hopkins-2 makes up 22% of hemolysates in single heterozygotes; therefore, there is the normal version of the gene in these patients. Hemolysates are the products of the destruction of red blood cells. Ho-2 also comprises 11% of hemolysates in ‘double’ heterozygotes, which are when the gene contains both Hopkins-2 and Hemoglobin S. There are currently multiple possible explanations as to how the Hemoglobin variant Hopkins-2 works. One explanation