Hæmoglobin P (the ‘Galveston’ Type)

Abstract

AN earlier communication¹ described a new variant of human hæmoglobin tentatively called the ‘Galveston type’. This variant appears identical with hæmoglobin L² in paper electrophoresis, veronal buffer, pH 8.6, 0.05 M, but differs from similar types in that it does not separate from hæmoglobin A in free electrophoresis, cacodylate buffer, pH 6.2–6.9, 0.1 M. It is now suggested that this variant (found in a Negro woman, ‘MTu’, and in one of her two children) be called hæmoglobin P. Fig. 1 shows a photograph of the paper electrophoresis pattern of ‘MTu's’ hæmoglobin sample, compared with those from subjects with sickle cell trait, hæmoglobin G trait, and hæmoglobin Q trait. (The sample of hæmoglobin G trait³ is from the subject ‘AK’; that of hæmoglobin Q trait⁴ was kindly supplied by Dr. H. Lehmann.) The various types of hæmoglobin in these samples, listed in order of decreasing mobility, are as follows: A, Q, G, P and S.