Studies on the hemoglobin of the great horned owl (Bubo virginianus)

Hemoglobins of 24 adult great horned owls (Bubo virginianus) were found to be identical on the basis of electrophoretic (using filter paper and agar and starch gels in various continuous and discontinuous buffer systems), alkali resistance, and spectral absorption properties. Peptide maps of tryptic and chymotryptic digests of globin from two specimens were compared with similarly produced maps of globin from human hemoglobin A1. Similarity in position on the map and in specific staining properties of several spots indicated that a number of presumably homologous sequences occur in both these globins. These studies indicate that in this species of owl the adult globin contains two different polypeptide chains (α and β), of which one also occurs in fetal globin (α and γ), and that the β chains in this species and in man are more dissimilar than the α chains of the same two species.