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Affixes: the building blocks of English
Affixes: the building blocks of English
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-globin

A globin compound.

[Latin globus, spherical object, globe.]

Globins are the protein parts of various molecules concerned with oxygen transport in the blood; examples are haemoglobin (US hemoglobin) (Greek haima, haimat-, blood), a red protein bound with iron, responsible for transporting oxygen in the blood; myoglobin (Greek mus, mu-, muscle), a simpler relative which carries and stores oxygen in muscle cells; haptoglobin (Greek haptein, fasten), a protein in plasma that binds with free haemoglobin so it can be removed by the liver; methaemoglobin (US methemoglobin), an oxidized form of haemoglobin which cannot transport oxygen around the body.

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