Haemoglobin phenotypes in water buffalo (Bos bubalus) during development

Abstract

The water buffalo has two foetal haemoglobins along with small amounts of adult components at birth. The structural differences between the two foetal haemoglobins are located in the α -chains and the two foetal haemoglobin types appear to be α₂¹ γ₂ and α₂¹¹γ ₂. Each adult buffalo has two haemoglobins with variant α-chains and which are of α₂¹β ₂ and α₂¹¹β ₂ Hb types. During post-natal development, the γ -chain is gradually replaced by the β -chain, the concentrations of α¹ and α¹¹ chains remaining, more or less, constant. A duplcation of the α-chain gene followed by mutation is assumed to account for the presence of two variant α-chain genes which are expressed together in each water buffalo from birth through maturity.