Arctic adaptation in whale hemoglobin: interplay of carbon dioxide and temperature in the oxygen unloading

• Main Authors: Giardina, B, Ekker, M, Scatena, R, Clementi, M, Brix, O., CONDO', SAVERIO GIOVANNI
• Other Authors: Condo', Sg, Brix, O
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 1990
• Subjects: Oxygen; Animal; Oxyhemoglobin; Hemoglobin; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Cold Temperature; Adaptation; Physiological; Cetacea; Whale; Arctic Region; Carbon Dioxide; Settore BIO/10 - BIOCHIMICA; Arctic; Balaenoptera acutorostrata
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2108/54797

The functional properties of hemoglobin from the whale Balaenoptera acutorostrata have been characterized as a function of pH, CO2, organic phosphates and temperature. Carbon dioxide effect does not depend on the presence of organic phosphates such as 2,3-DPG and P6-inositol while it is strongly affected by temperature, so that at 37 degrees C it is completely abolished. This, together with the very small delta H of oxygen binding (delta H = -4 to -2 Kcal/mol of oxygen at pH 7.4) has been physiologically interpreted on the basis of the specific metabolic needs of fins and tail which are the place of a great muscular activity.