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The crystallography of hemoglobins

1908; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 5; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3181/00379727-5-37

1535-3702

Edward Tyson Reichert, A. P. Brown,

Enzyme Structure and Function

The primary object of this research was to determine whether or not corresponding albuminous substances are identical. We believed that if non-identity were established we should have a fact of great fundamental importance in relation to heredity, the origin of species, etc. The crystallographic method was adopted because we believed that by this means we might succeed where the chemist has failed; and hemoglobin was selected as the first substance of our inquiry because of its comparatively ready crystallizability. Crystals from over one hundred species have been studied, and we have not only positively shown the non-identity of the hemoglobins, but have also brought to light much information of broad biological interest. From a preliminary review of our records certain facts stand out very prominently. 1. The constancy of generic characters in the crystals.—For instance, the genera that have been represented by a considerable number of species, as Felis, Canis, Papio, etc., show in each case constancy in the characters of the crystals in each genus, with marked differences both in axial ratios and in crystal systems between the crystals from the different genera. When the characters of the crystals from any one of these genera are tabulated, they at once recall to the mineralogist the crystallographic groups of minerals. The crystals of the genus Felis are as strictly isomorphous as those of the calcite group of the rhombohedral carbonates. As an example of the individuality of these generic characters, the following example may be cited: A sample of blood, marked as that of a certain species of baboon was received from one of our zoological gardens. Upon malting preparations and examining the crystals, it was at once evident that they did not correspond to any species of baboon thus far examined, nor did they show the characters of the crystals of this genus. They were identified by their crystallographic characters as belonging to the cats (genus Felis), but not to any species thus far examined.