Talk:Fetal hemoglobin

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 28 August 2018 and 21 December 2018. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Damonie667.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 21:21, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

New Edits - educational assignment
Hi everyone. I am a final year Life Sciences student who's doing a module called Science Communication. I will be editing the page quite frequently until the 17th of April as part of my assignment (please see above). My aim is to make the topic accessible to someone with a basic scientific knowledge and I will try to address the issues raised on this page to the best of my ability. Please feel free to let me know anything that I could add or change to improve the main article. Thanks! Sciencingabout (talk) 15:11, 5 March 2020 (UTC)

Hi everyone, this is me again. I have added new sections to the Fetal hemoglobin page and rewritten some of the existing ones to simplify them. Regarding what's been mentioned on this talk page, I have checked the links, which are working (my thanks to the contributor who rectified them!). I've rewritten the section on Structure and genetics, which should address what has been raised. I've also made sure there are no contradictions for the timelines of hemoglobin F's production and persistence, as well as answered the other queries on this page. Finally, thank you for posting here and a big thanks for all of you who contributed directly or indirectly in making the Fetal hemoglobin page better! Sciencingabout (talk) 15:03, 17 April 2020 (UTC)

fetal
fetal hemoglobin is said in the text to be composed of two gamma and two alpha subunits. the current picture shown in the article seems to show 2 subunits (each 7 alpha helices.) is this a discrepancy?Wilgamesh 19:10, 1 November 2005 (UTC)


 * I have the hardest time making heads or tails of those 3D ribbon diagrams of proteins, but I think you're right. It doesn't look nearly busy enough to be hemoglobin (compare with the image in the adult hemoglobin article). Could it be a single gamma subunit? (the part that makes fetal unique from adult) Hopefully the original author (or someone else who knows) will come along to clarify. Potatophysics 11:41, 27 January 2006 (UTC)


 * I believe the PDB I used to generate that image contains one alpha and one gamma subunit for a total of two subunits (i.e. one-half of a complete HbF protein). Should there be a PDB that represents the complete (i.e. all four subunits) protein, that one should be used instead. --David Iberri (talk) 12:15, 27 January 2006 (UTC)


 * I have prepared a new image with the correct structure (tetramer) and I have uploaded to Wikimedia Commons as a new version of this. I guess it will be replaced automatically here in some time. --AngelHerraez (talk) 12:43, 10 February 2016 (UTC)


 * I think it's been rectified already. I will try to just highlight the 4 subunits and heme groups as the current image seems quite crowded. Sciencingabout (talk) 14:50, 5 March 2020 (UTC)

Dead Links

 * 1) Hemoglobin structure and function
 * 2) Hemoglobin F fact sheet
 * 3) Fetal hemoglobin [doc]

All these links are dead, is it possible that someone could rectify this? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jameshrh (talk • contribs) 16:45, 10 May 2007 (UTC).

Common Blood Supply?!?! The article starts with a statement that the mother and foetus share a common blood suply. This seems to be contradicted almost immediately and certainly in the article on placenta. Please can someone knowledgeable clarify?!

Common blood supply
I have removed the opening sentence in the 'Overview' section that read 'Both the mother and fetus share a common blood supply' as this is clearly incorrect. Why would they have different types of Hb if they share the same blood supply? They do however share a common 'oxygen' supply but I'm not sure how this would have helped the article, it may have been oversimplifying things. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Tcal (talk • contribs).

Structure and genetics
Someone needs to seriously clean up structure and genetics. Pretty sure there are not two genes for the gamma subunit on chrom. 11.(I don't want to change it as I am only 95% sure)  There is one gene for beta and one for gamma. The alpha subunits however do have two genes per chrom. I think the confusion is the original writer may have mixed up alpha and gamma?? maybe? Either way I added a sentence that says beta is on 11 too. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 132.192.12.5 (talk) 01:45, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

There are TWO gamma genes in each chromosome: HBG2 (Gγ, not "γG") and HBG1 (Aγ, not "γA"). The sentence "The beta subunit is also on Chromosome 11" is misleading: it is the Beta globin Gene (HBB), and not the protein who is located on Chromosome 11.

Fetal hemoglobin persistence?
"and in the newborn until roughly 6 months old" "fetal hemoglobin is nearly completely replaced by adult hemoglobin by approximately the twelfth week of postnatal life" These 2 quotations from the first 2 paragraphs seem to contradict each other directly, does anyone know which is correct? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Murdochious (talk • contribs) 19:36, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Possible new info
Hello everyone. I was just curious if it was known why we switch from the more efficient fetal hemoglobin to normal hemoglobin. Does the fetal hemoglobin have any disadvantage over the adult variety? It seems odd for us to have this complex switching process for something to get WORSE as we get older, doesn't it? If there are any theories about this, I think it might be a good idea to add them here somewhere. JonathanHopeThisIsUnique (talk) 03:49, 6 February 2015 (UTC)

Hi. I couldn't find any literature on this, but have been pondering about it myself. I feel that switching to hemoglobin A could be to ensure that the hemoglobin F from the fetus can compete and win the oxygen from the mother, which may help their survival (this is just my theory). There is experimental evidence that mothers with more than 70% hemoglobin F had small for gestational age fetuses. It'd be interesting to study through phylogeny and see which appeared first, hemoglobin A or F, which would probably help answering this question. Sciencingabout (talk) 14:46, 17 April 2020 (UTC)