Studies on Monotreme Proteins. III. Amino Acid Sequence of the a- and ß-Globin Chains of the Minor Haemoglobin from the Echidna, Tachyglossus Aculeatus Aculeatus

Abstract

Echidnas exhibit polymorphism in their haemoglobins. The minor component in animals from the mainland of Australia is Hb-IIA, which can be identified by electrophoretic migration rate and separated by chromatography on DEAE-Sephadex. This minor component has IX- and fi-globin chains which were only partially separated by chromatography on carboxymethylcellulose columns. By tryptic digestion of the partially purified chains, followed by fractionation by paper ionophoresis and chromatography, the component pep tides from the IX- and fi-chains were isolated and their amino acid sequences determined.