Chromatographic and Chemical Studies of Some Abnormal Human Hemoglobins and of Some Minor Hemoglobin Components

Author: Jones, Richard Theodore

Year: 1961

Degree: Dissertation (Ph.D.)

Advisors: Schroeder, Walter Adolph; Pauling, Linus

Committee Member: Unknown, Unknown

Option: Chemistry

DOI: 10.7907/6S0R-AP08

Abstract

Major and minor components in hemoglobins A, C, D, F, H, and S were detected and compared with one another by chromatography on IRC-50 resin. A procedure utilizing radioactive hemoglobins was developed for differentiating two hemoglobins with very similar chromatographic movements.

Chemical studies including amino acid composition, N-terminal sequence analysis, peptide pattern analysis of tryptic hydrolysates, ultraviolet spectroscopy, and subunit hybridization were carried out on several of the components which were isolated by chromatography. Conclusions about the polypeptide chains present in each components were drawn from these studies. Molecular formulas in terms of the number and kind of polypeptide chains were deduced for some of the components.

As well as yielding information about the chemical structure of hemoglobin F and the two abnormal components associated with thalassemia hemoglobin H, subunit hybridizations of these hemoglobins and hemoglobin A indicated that the rate of the hybridization reaction is slow and that there is non-random recombination of the subunits of these hemoglobins.

Files