Studies on the heterogeneity of hemoglobin: III. The heterogenity of some animal hemoglobins

Abstract

The hemoglobins of the adult and of a 9 month old chimpanzee were separated by CM-cellulose chromatography into different fractions which where indistinguishable from the corresponding human hemoglobin fractions by the methods used. The minor Hb-A 2 component was readily separated from the main hemoglobin fraction. A close relation was found between subfractionation by starch block electrophoresis and CM-cellulose chromatography. The fetal hemoglobin of the chimpanzee showed its close relationship to human fetal hemoglobin by similar electrophoretic and chromatographie behavior, by high resistance to alkali denaturation and by the same shift of the tryptophan band in ultraviolet absorption. The hemoglobins of adult and newborn cows, goats and sheep were inhomogeneous in CM-cellulose chromatography. Two faster eluting fractions (called A 1 A and A 1 B, F 1 A and F 1 B) were observed; in the blood of the cow fetus a small slow fraction (called Hb-F 2) was also present. The ratios of the Hb 0 and the total Hb 1 fractions were almost constant. Possibly, the origin of the Hb 1 fractions is the same as that suggested for the corresponding minor fractions of human hemoglobin types. Since the two minor fetal hemoglobin fractions, Hb-F 1 A and Hb-F 1 B, of the goat showed an increased resistance to alkali denaturation, these fractions and the alkaliresistant fetal hemoglobin may be closely related. No differences in alkali resistance between subfractions of fetal hemoglobins of the cow and sheep were found.