Biochemical Properties of Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) Hemoglobin

Hemoglobins of O. niloticus (averaged standard length of 18.07 ± 0.89 cm and weight of 216.86 ± 27.13 g) were analysed of some biochemical properties. Average hematocrits were 25.80 ± 3.71% and average hemoglobin concentrations were 7.05 ± 1.08 g/dl. It was found that there were 9 - 11 types of hemoglobin by cellulose acetate electrophoresis. The anodic and cathodic hemoglobins were revealed by native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with approximate amounts of 45.72 and 54.28% of total hemoglobin, respectively. In addition, the cathodic hemoglobin was classified by cellulose acetate electrophoresis as cathodic I and cathodic II with approximate amounts of 47.62 and 6.66% of total hemoglobin, respectively. Mass spectrometry was performed to determine molecular weights of hemoglobin. It was found that the molecular weights of native hemoglobin was 63.0 kDa and the molecular weights of subunits were 15.3, 15.6 and 16.1 kDa. The pIs of anodic and cathodic hemoglobins ranged 5.28 - 6.80 and 7.27 - 9.71 , respectively.