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Rice University Researchers reveal that Deep-diving whales may create synthetic blood. The study appears in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
The ultra-stable properties of the proteins that allow whales to remain active while holding their breath for up to two hours could hold the key to creating synthetic blood, scientists believe.
In the study, Olson and colleagues George Phillips, Lucian Smith and Premila Samuel compared the muscle protein myoglobin from humans, whales and other deep-diving mammals. Whales and other deep-diving marine mammals can pack 10-20 times more myoglobin into their cells than humans can, and that allows them to 'download' oxygen directly into their skeletal muscles and stay active even when they are holding their breath, said Olson.
Myoglobin holds oxygen for ready use inside muscle cells, and the study found that marine mammals have ultra-stable versions of myoglobin that tend not to unfold.
The researchers found that stability was the key for cells to make large amounts of myoglobin, which explains why deep-diving mammals can load their muscle cells with far more myoglobin than humans.
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