Differences in cattle globins

Abstract

1. Comparisons have been made between electrophoretic mobilities of the cattle haemoglobins, HbA, HbB, HbC, HbD and HbF, at pH8.9. The fastest was HbB, then came in decreasing order HbF, HbC, HbA and HbD. 2. Globins were prepared from the main fractions of the five haemoglobins by CM-cellulose chromatography and investigated by starch-gel electrophoresis in four different buffer systems. In three of these (pH2.0 and 11.8) the globins appeared as two bands on stained starch gels. The slowest bands, the alpha-chains, showed the same rate of migration in all five globins. The faster bands, the non-alpha-chains, differed, that of HbF being the fastest and that from HbC the slowest. The other three were intermediate with, however, very small difference between the non-alpha-chains from HbA and HbD. 3. At pH1.8 in an acetate-phosphate-hydrochloric acid-urea buffer three bands appeared in all five globins of which the two slowest were indistinguishable in rates of migration, whereas the rates of migration of the third and fastest bands differed. Explanations for the occurrence of three bands are discussed.