Divergence between the Anoas of Sulawesi and the Asiatic Water buffaloes, inferred from their complete amino acid sequences of hemoglobin ß chains

Four complete amino acid sequences of hemoglobin β chains were determined for the swamp and the river types of the Asiatic water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) and two species of the subgenus Anoa in Bubalus; B. (A.) depressicornis (H. Smith, 1827), the lowland anoa, and B. (A.) quarlesi (Ouwens, 1910), the mountain anoa. The two types of the bubalis were identical in the 145 amino acid residues of the β chains and, compared to this sequence, the two residues were substituted in the depressicornis (β49Thr → Ser and 134Ala → Thr) and the five were in the quarlesi (β53Val → Ile, 74Met → Ile, 111Val → Ile, 115Arg → His and 134Ala → Thr). While both Anoa species diverged from the bubalis by the β134Ala → Thr, they differed from each other by the five substitutions. The Anoa species are endemic to Sulawesi of Indonesia. Their speciation and the present coexistence were discussed with reference to probable immigrations of two ancestral Anoa species to Sulawesi at so long interval that had caused a reproductive isolation between the two wild animals. The earlier immigrants were postulated to be ancestral to the quarlesi and the later ones to the depressicornis.     

The giant panda is closer to a bear,judged by α- and β-hemoglobin sequences

Summary Using - and -hemoglobin sequences, we made a maximum likelihood inference as to the phylogenetic relationship among carnivores, including the two pandas, giant and lesser. Molecular phylogenetic studies up to 1985 had consistently indicated that the giant panda is more closely related to the bear than to the lesser panda. In 1986, however, a contradictory tree was constructed, using hemoglobins and so on, in which the two pandas link together (Tagle et al. 1986). In contrast to that tree, our conclusion supports the close relationship between bear and giant panda. The surface impression of a close relationship between the two pandas drawn from pairwise amino acid differences is explained by a rapid rate of hemoglobin evolution in the bear compared to that in the two pandas.Offprint requests to: T. Hashimoto     

Divergence pattern and selective mode in protein evolution: The example of vertebrate myoglobins and hemoglobin chains

Summary The evolutionary relation of vertebrate myoglobin and the hemoglobin chains including the agnathan hemoglobin chain is investigated on the basis of a new view of amino acid changes that is developed by canonical discriminant analysis of amino acid residues at individual sites. In contrast to the clear discrimination of amino acid residues between myoglobin, hemoglobin a chain, and hemoglobin chain in warm-blood vertebrates, the three types of globins in the lower class of vertebrates show so much variation that they are not well discriminated. This is seen particularly at the sites that are ascertained in mammals to carry the amino acid residues participating in stabilizing the monomeric structure in myoglobin and the residues forming the subunit contacts in hemoglobin. At these sites, agnathan hemoglobin chains are evaluated to be intermediate between the myoglobin and hemoglobin chains of gnathostomes. The variation in the phylogenetically lower class of globins is also seen in the internal region; there the amino acid residues of myoglobin and hemoglobin chains in the phylogenetically higher class exhibit an example of parallel evolution at the molecular level. New quantities, the distance of sequence property between discriminated groups and the variation within each group, are derived from the values of discriminant functions along the peptide chain, and this set of quantities simply describes an overall feature of globins such that the distinction between the three types of globins has been clearer as the vertebrates have evolved to become jawed, landed, and warm-blooded. This result strongly suggests that the functional constraint on the amino acid sequence of a protein is changed by living conditions and that severe conditions constitute a driving force that creates a distinctive protein from a less-constrained protein.Offprint requests to: J. Otsuka     

六种鼠苹果酸脱氢酶,血浆蛋白质和血红蛋白的变异分析

本文分析了家鼠属（Ｒａｔｔｕｓ）４种鼠和姬鼠属（Ａｐｏｄｅｍｕｓ）２种鼠的苹果酸脱氢酶、血浆中β１区和β２区蛋白质、血浆清蛋白、前清蛋白以及红细胞中血红蛋白的变异。结果表明,ＭＤＨ在进化上是比较保守的,其中ＭＤＨｍ和ＭＤＨｓ２带在各鼠间位于同一泳动线上,仅ＭＤＨｓ１带的泳动速度出现属间和种间的微小差异;血浆中β１区和β２区的蛋白质带、清蛋白带以及前清蛋白带各鼠间出现明显的变异,表现为黑线姬鼠和社鼠在β１区出现２种多态型区带,褐家鼠在β２区也有２种多态型带;各鼠间的血红蛋白变异比较明显,主要表现在区带数和主成分的泳动度显著不同,而且社鼠的Ｈｂ出现３种多态型,黄毛鼠出现２种多态型,其余各鼠的Ｈｂ皆为单态性。上述１６项生化特性按相似和相异进行配对比较,初步表明黄毛鼠与褐家鼠亲缘上比较相近,白腹巨鼠要比其他３种鼠亲缘上更接近于黑线姬鼠,而社鼠与白腹巨鼠之间进化分歧相对地较大。     

红细胞的前向光散射

本文从红细胞前向光散射的观点出发对红细胞的尺寸、红细胞的变形性研究以及红细胞容积、血红蛋白浓度等参数的测定作了系统的思考。提出在红细胞与周围悬浮介质折射车相差不大时,反常衍射比夫朗和费衍射更适合用于红细胞前向光散射的研究。利用两组不同角间隔的前向散射光来同时测量红细胞容积和血红蛋白浓度。同时其它一些标识红细胞的参数如平均红细胞容量（ＭＣＶ）、平均血红蛋白量（ＭＣＨ）等均可直接或间接由这两项参数导出。最后还将红细胞的光散射与Ｍｉｅ理论作了对比．     

The effect of glyceraldehyde on red cells: Haemoglobin status,oxidative metabolism and glycolysis

Glyceraldehyde induces changes in the flux of glucose oxidised through the hexose monophosphate pathway, the concentrations of intermediates in the Embden-Meyerhoff pathway, the oxidative status of haemoglobin and levels of reduced and oxidised pyridine nucleotides and glutathione in red cells. Glyceraldehyde autoxidises in the cellular incubations, consuming oxygen and producing glyoxalase I- and II-reactive materials. Major fates of glyceraldehyde in red cells appear to be: (i) adduct formation with reduced glutathione and cellular protein; (ii) autoxidation and reaction with oxyhaemoglobin and pyridine nucleotides, and (iii) phosphorylation of d-glyceraldehyde and entry into the glycolytic pathway as glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate. The production of glycerol from glyceraldehyde by red cell l-hexonate dehydrogenase appears not to be a major reaction of glyceraldehyde in red cells. These results indicate that high concentrations of glyceraldehyde (1–50 mM) may induce oxidative stress in red cells by virtue of the spontaneous autoxidation of glyceraldehyde, forming hydrogen peroxide and α-ketoaldehydes (glyoxalase substrates). The implications of glyceraldehyde-induced oxidative stress for the in vitro anti-sickling effect of dl-glyceraldehyde and for the polyol pathway metabolism of glyceraldehyde are discussed.     

XANES study of iron displacement in the haem of myoglobin

The XANES (X-ray absorption near edge structure) spectra of deoxy human adult haemoglobin (HbA) and myoglobin (Mb) have been measured at the wiggler beam line of the Frascati synchrotron radiation facility. The XANES are interpreted by the multiple scattering cluster theory. The variations in the XANES between HbA and Mb are assigned to changes in the Fe-porphyrin geometry.     

Mutant hemoglobin stability depends upon location and nature of single point mutation

The temperature dependence of the rates of heme release from the beta subunits of methemoglobin A and 5 beta mutant methemoglobins has been determined. The rates were largest for two hemoglobins with mutations distal to heme, previously known to be unstable. The other 3 mutants also released heme faster than A. These hemoglobins, with single point mutations at the alpha 1/beta 2 interface, were previously thought to be stable. The low reported yields of the 5 mutant proteins covaries with the relative rates of heme release from the met species.     

The H+/O ratio of proton translocation linked to the oxidation of succinate by mitochondria

In a recent communication Lehninger and co-workers (Costa, L.E., Reynaferje, B., and Lehninger, A.L. (1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 4802-4811) reported values approaching 8 for the H+/O ratio of vectorial proton ejection from rat liver mitochondria respiring with succinate. Here we present a rigorous analysis of these measurements which reveals that they may significantly overestimate the true H+/O stoicheiometry.     

A mechanism for indirect allosteric action of charged effectors

A mechanism for indirect allosteric action of charged effectors on substrate binding to a macromolecule is proposed. It is accounted for by electrostatic interaction among effectors in the solution, away from their receptors. The possibility of the mechanism proposed is tested in the allosteric action of univalent salt and 2,3-diphosphoglycerate on oxygen binding to hemoglobin. A model for electrostatic interaction between these two effectors in the solution and for their overall effect on oxygen binding is introduced. The 2,3-diphosphoglycerate binding constant to deoxygenated hemoglobin as a function of univalent salt concentration and the median ligand activity as a function of the concentration of univalent salt and 2,3-diphoshoglycerate are calculated and compared with experimental data. The obtained results indicate that electrostatic interaction in the solution may significantly contribute to indirect allosteric action of charged effectors. Partly presented at the “11th FEBS Meeting” in Copenhagen, August 1977