ABSTRACT It has been proposed that myoglobin (Mb) may act as a nitrite reductase under hypoxic conditions. Any mechanism describing such activity should take into account the binding geometry of the ligand to the heme. Crystal structures of horse-heart Mb and human hemoglobin-nitrite complexes suggest that the anion adopts an uncommon O -nitrito binding mode. Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) spectroscopy was employed to investigate the nature of nitrite binding to Mb at pH values ranging from 6.5 to 10.8. Res…