EMBRYONIC HEMOGLOBINS OF DIFFERENT ANIMAL SPECIES - QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DATA ABOUT PRODUCTION AND PROPERTIES OF HEMOGLOBINS DURING EARLY DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES OF PIG CATTLE AND SHEEP

The existence of embryonic hemoglobins is demonstrated in sheep-, calf and pig embryos. The occurrence and disappearance of these hemoglobins is quantitatively determined by cellulose acetate gel electrophoresis; hemoglobins as well as the globin chains, dissociated in 8 molar urea were quantitated. Sedimentation and diffusion experiments in the analytical ultracentrifuge revealed a S20 of 4.3 and a D20 of 6.6 for the examined hemoglobins. Therefore it is concluded that all hemoglobins occurring at different stages of embryonic and fetal development consist of 4 polypeptide chains with a total molecular weight of 66,000. The subsequent formation of the different polypeptide chains during ontogenesis is shown: At first only ε-chains are formed as demonstrated by the existence of Hb Gower I, consisting of four identical ε-chains. Subsequently the α-chain appears, which leads to Hb Gower 2 (α2ε2). The third polypeptide chain formed during the ontogenesis the γ-chain results finally in the appearance of HbF. In addition the existence of a HbF pig is demonstrated by the fingerprint technique. © 1968 Springer-Verlag.