Summary
Sheep haemoglobin A (Hb-A) and B (Hb-B) differ in the primary structure of the β subunits but have identical α subunits. Hb-A has a higher oxygen affinty than Hb-B which is thought to contribute to the higher resistance versus hypoxia of sheep being homozygous for Hb-A compared to sheep having Hb-B only. In order to find out if other respiratory properties of these two haemoglobins like Bohr effect, carbamate formation, reactivity towards anions or heat of reaction are likewise different we have investigated these quantities in sheep Hb-A and Hb-B. We found that the influence of protons, anions and CO2 on the oxygen affinity of Hb-A and Hb-B was very similar but observed a higher heat of reaction in Hb-A compared to Hb-B. We conclude from these results that, at least at sea level, the respiratory functions of sheep haemoglobin A and B give no indication of a selective dominance of one respiratory protein over the other.
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Bauer, C., Jung, HD. A comparison of respiratory properties of sheep haemoglobin A and B. J Comp Physiol B 102, 167–172 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00691302
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00691302