[Hemoglobins of pandas]

We tried to elucidate the genetical relationship of giant and lesser panda and especially that of Ursidae and Procyonidae by sequence analysis. We sequenced hemoglobins of four Ursidae and also those of giant and lesser panda. The surprising result is that the hemoglobin of both pandas only differs in six amino-acid exchanges whereas to other Carnivores, especially to Ursidae and Procyonidae, there exist much more ones. The interpretation of these and other amino-acid sequences with the maximum parsimony method gave a phylogenetic tree with the Felidae and Canidae representing their expected position and classifying the pandas a family or their own between Ursidae and Procyonidae. Because many sequences are available, with the help of molecular biology one can obtain very detailed information on special biological problems.