What would happen to the affinity of maternal hemoglobin for oxygen if you decreased the concentration of 2,3- diphosphoglycerate in maternal red blood cells? It would increase the affinity 2,3-DPG doesn't affect the affinity of maternal hemoglobin for oxygen; it only affects the affinity of fetal hemoglobin for oxygen It would decrease the affinity
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Step 1: 2,3-diphosphoglycerate (2,3-DPG) is a molecule that binds to hemoglobin and decreases its affinity for oxygen. Show more…
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Fetal hemoglobin has a lower BPG affinity (2.3-bisphosphoglycerate) than adult hemoglobin. Identify the hemoglobin that will have a higher affinity for O2. Justify your response on biochemical terms. Briefly explain the benefit of this type of hemoglobin to the fetus.
Sri K.
Studies of oxygen transport in pregnant mammals have shown that the O2-saturation curves of fetal and maternal blood are markedly different when measured under the same conditions. Fetal erythrocytes contain a structural variant of hemoglobin, HbF, consisting of two γ and two β subunits (γ2β2), whereas maternal erythrocytes contain HbA (α2β2). When all the BPG is carefully removed from samples of HbA and HbF, the measured O2-saturation curves (and consequently the O2 affinities) are displaced to the left. However, HbA now has a greater affinity for oxygen than does HbF. When BPG is reintroduced, the O2-saturation curves return to normal. What is the effect of BPG on the O2 affinity of hemoglobin and why are HbA and HbF impacted differently by BPG?
Adi S.
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