β Scribed by Daniel E. Goldberg
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
The parasitic nematode Ascaris lives in the lowβoxygen intestinal folds of over one billion people worldβwwide. The worm has an octameric hemoglobin that binds oxygen four orders of magnitude more tightly than does human hemogobin. Our studies have focused on elucidating the molecular mechanism of oxygen avidity, the basis of multimerization and the function of this remarkable molecule. We now believe that we understand a fair amount about the molecular interactions that result in enhanced avidity, have some preliminary ideas on octamer formation, and have some hypotheses about possible function. Along the way we have stumbled into the disciplines of intron evolution, sterol biosynthesis and oxygenβregulated gene expression.
π SIMILAR VOLUMES
Objective: Our purpose was to determine the effect of meconium-stained amniotic fluid on the hemoglobinoxygen association curve of maternal whole blood. Methods: Whole blood was obtained from term gravidas in active labor. Hemoglobin-oxygen association curves were generated for blood incubated with
## T W O FIGURES That no two hemoglobins are quite the same was pointed out some years ago by Barcroft ('28). New evidence from many sources has confirmed his observations. Furthermore The authors wish to make acknowledgment of facilities made available f o r these studies by the U. S. Bureau of