Novel hemoglobin components and their amino acid sequences from the crab-eating macaque (Macaca fascicularis)

We found two types of hemoglobin, T and R, from the crab-eating macaque and compared those to A and Q previously reported. The 22 animals studied showed six different phenotypes, A, R, QA, QT, QAT, and QAR. Analysis of the complete amino acid sequences for the alpha chains of hemoglobins Q, A, T, and R revealed that amino acids at four positions, 8, 55, 71, and 78 from the N-terminal, are variable. In the alpha A chain, Thr, Val, Gly, and Gln occupy these positions, and in the alpha Q chain the analogous amino acids are Thr, Val, Asp, and Gln, respectively. In the newly found alpha T chain they are Thr, Val, Gly, and His; and in the alpha R chain, they are Ser, Ile, Gly, and His, respectively. Two amino acids (alpha 8 Thr and alpha 78 Gln) in alpha A of the crab-eating macaque were found to be different from those in the alpha chain of the Japanese macaque.