So essentially what happens is our hemoglobin consists of a heme group that contains an iron atom and it also contains of the protein component, the globin. So what happens is the globin protein component is broken down into its constituents, amino acids, and the heme group is broken down into the iron atom as well as that heme. Now, the iron and the amino acids can either remain inside the cell and be used by that cell, or they go into our blood plasma and then travel back into the bone marrow, where the bone marrow reuses these recycled materials to form more red blood cells. Now, amino acids can actually travel in the blood plasma by themselves, but this iron has to be carried by special protein carrier known as a transferring. So transferring carries the fe atom to the bone marrow, or if the fe remains in that cell, it can be used by that cell for some type of process. Now, what about the heme group?