The Living World 8th Edition by George Johnson

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How Does pH Affect a Protein's Function?
The red blood cells you see to the right carry oxygen to all parts of your body. These cells are red because they are chock full of a large iron-rich protein called hemoglobin. The iron atoms in each hemoglobin molecule provide a place for oxygen gas molecules to stick to the protein. When oxygen levels are highest (in the lungs), oxygen atoms bind to hemoglobin tightly, and a large percent of the hemoglobin molecules in a cell possess bound oxygen atoms. When oxygen levels are lower (in the tissues of the body), hemoglobin doesn't bind oxygen atoms as tightly, and as a consequence hemoglobin releases its oxygen to the tissues. What causes this difference between lungs and tissues in how hemoglobin loads and unloads oxygen? oxygen concentration is not the only factor that might be responsible. Blood pH, for example, also differs between lungs and body tissues ( pH is a measure of how many h+ ions a solution contains). Tissues are slightly more acid (that is, they have more h+ ions and a lower ph) because their metabolic activities release cO₂ into the blood, which you will recall from chapter 2, quickly becomes converted to carbonic acid.
The graph to the right displays so-called "oxygen loading curves" that reveal the effectiveness with which hemoglobin binds oxygen. The more effective the binding, the less oxygen required before hemoglobin becomes fully loaded and the farther to the left a loading curve is shifted. To assess the impact of ph on this process, O₂ loading curves were carried out at three different blood ph values. In the graph, oxygen levels in the blood are presented on the x axis, and for each data point the corresponding % hemoglobin saturation (a %, or percent, is the numerator [top part] of a fraction whose denominator [bottom part] is 100-in this case, a measure of the fraction of the hemoglobin that is bound to oxygen) is presented on the y axis. The oxygen-loading curve was repeated at ph values of 7.6, 7.4, and 7.2, corresponding to the blood ph that might be expected in resting, exercising, and very active muscle tissue, respectively.
Drawing Conclusions How does pH affect the release of oxygen from hemoglobin?