[Hemoglobins, XXXVII. The primary structure of a monomeric insect hemoglobin (Erythrocruorin), component CTT IIIa of Chironomus thummi thummi. An anomalous Heme complex: E7 Gln, E11 Ile].

The primary structure of the monomeric hemoglobin CTT IIIa of the midge larva of Chironomus thummi thummi is presented. Cyanogenbromide peptides and tryptic peptides were used for sequence analysis. The primary structure was established with a small number of large peptides. The complete sequencing of the cyanogen bromide peptides was enabled by the C-terminal fixation of arginine. The primary structure of CTT IIIa is compared to the beta-chains of human and to the monomeric component CTT III: CTT IIIa possesses a "tail" of 9 amino acids on the N-terminus, and shows only a small number of identical residues compared to the number that other CTT hemoglobins share with each other. Also the heme complex is unusual: E7 Gln and E11 Ile.