The aim of this study is to establish the physico-chemical characteristics and the molecular structure of unconventional microbial and nematode globins including protoglobins, globin coupled sensors and uncharacterized globins of Caenorhabditis elegans. Experimental approaches will include expression cloning, study of ligand binding, crystallization and X-ray diffraction analysis, and (for C. elegans) GFP reporter constructs, RNAi silencing and identification of potential binding partners.