| Popis: |
The scorpion does not represent an important part of the research on the hemocyanin (Hcy) structure, and until recently, only a few electron micrographs (Wibo, 1966; Van Bruggen, 1968), ultracentrifugation (Wibo, 1966), circular dichroism (Witters et al., 1974) and oxygen binding studies (Padmanabhanaidu, 1966) have been reported. It is a dangerous animal, hard to breed, with low blood volume (0.2 to 0.5 ml per adult individual). This does not, however, lessen the choice of this animal in so much as one can miniaturize the study methods. In effect, its blood is at least 9 5% Hcy, and by an evolutional mystery, the subunits that constitute this molecule have so marked themselves during the ages that they have become easily separable, which does not seem to be the case with other arthropods. It is for these two reasons that we have chosen to study this apparently unsuitable animal. |
