Starch-Gel Electrophoresis of Mouse Hæmoglobins

Abstract

THE hæmoglobins of mice were first shown to exist in two different inherited forms by Ranney and Gluecksohn-Waelsch^1,2 using paper electrophoresis. Their work was confirmed and extended by Russell and Gerald³, who found only two hæmoglobin types, diffuse and single, among twenty inbred lines of mice, using the starch-block technique. Starch-gel electrophoresis gives a better resolution of proteins than either of these techniques, and there have been three accounts^4–6 of the detection of slow-moving bands in the diffuse hæmoglobin using starch gel with continuous borate buffer. Popp and St. Amand⁴ noted these bands and also two peaks in the ultracentrifuge analysis of diffuse hæmoglobin. Ranney, Marlowe-Smith and Gluecksohn-Waelsch⁵ observed that both the slowest band of the electrophoretic pattern and the faster peak of the ultracentrifuge pattern increased when the hæmoglobin solution was stored for 4 weeks at 4° C. Rosa et al.⁶ tested six inbred lines, five of which were among those used by Russell and Gerald³, and claimed that they could be further sub-divided into at least four hæmoglobin types, when these bands were taken into account.