THE METAMORPHOSIS OF HEMOGLOBIN IN THE BULLFROG

1. Tadpole and adult hemoglobin do not differ significantly in molecular weight. The molecular weight of both is in the neighborhood of 68,000. 2. Heme-heme interaction as measured by the value of n in Hill's equation is virtually the same—about 2.8—in both tadpole and adult. 3. There appears to be no significant effect of pH upon the oxygen equilibrium of tadpole hemoglobin, in contrast to large Bohr and reverse Bohr effects in the adult. This is taken to mean that during metamorphosis acid groups of globin become sensitive to the oxygenation of heme by some change in the mode of linkage between heme and globin. 4. The oxygen affinity of tadpole hemoglobin is about seven times as great as that of the adult at pH 6 and twice as great at pH 9.