Abstract
Two fetal hemoglobins have been identified in the blood of the newborn; they differ in the nature of the amino acid residue at position 136 of the γ chain. The change in the ratio of these two fetal hb chains (termed Gγ and Aγ for the chains with a glycine or an alanine residue in this position, respectively) has been studied in the blood of seven infants at varying intervals after birth. The babies studied included two normals, two Hb-S heterozygotes, two Hb-C heterozygotes, and one infant with Hb-S-Hb-C disease. The ratio of Gγ to Aγ chains, about 3 to 1 at birth, changes steadily during the first 3 to 4 months, and by 5 months of age approximates 2 to 3 which is similar to the ratio of the Hb-F from normal adults. These observations suggest that the switch from γ chain to β (and δ) chain production after birth apparently involves an unequal repression of the multiple γ structural genes at the time the β and δ structural genes are activated.
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Huisman, T., Schroeder, W. & Brown, A. Changes in the Nature of Human Fetal Hemoglobin During the First Year of Life. Pediatr Res 4, 466–467 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197009000-00130
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197009000-00130