Thalassaemia Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Thalassaemia - Lab Report Example Then there is the ÃŽ ±-thalassaemia trait characterized by two affected ÃŽ ±-globin genes. Hemoglobin H disease is the third type classification of ÃŽ ±-thalassaemia which has three affected genes. Finally, there is the ÃŽ ±-Thalassaemia Major that has four affected ÃŽ ±-globin gene (Weatherall and Clegg 2008). There are three different types of ÃŽ ²-thalassaemia. The first one is ÃŽ ²-thalassemia trait which has one mutated ÃŽ ²-globin gene and one normal one. The second one is Thalassaemia Intermedia, which has two abnormal l genes although there is a little production of ÃŽ ²-globin. The third is Thalassaemia Major in which there are two abnormal genes that cause extreme decrease or complete lack of ÃŽ ²-globin production (Weatherall and Clegg 2008). Haemoglobin electrophoresis is a method used to separate the different blood haemoglobin types in a procedure that uses cellulose acetate in alkaline buffer. The process involves the use of extremely small samples of haemosylates prepared from whole samples of blood. These samples are applied to the Titan III Cellulose Acetate Plate whereby the haemoglobins in the samples undergo separation by electrophoresis with the use of an alkaline buffer. The pH of the buffer ranges between 8.2 and 8.6. They are then stained with Ponceau S Stain and the resulting patterns that form are scanned on a scanning densitometer followed by determining the relative percentage of each band. TF is diluted to 15ml, and SF is collected in 3ml so as to maximize absorption in the spectrometer. This, however, does not affect the results because they were diluted using distilled water. Distilled water is free of ions and other soluble contaminants and; therefore, cannot affect the result of the experiment. The pH of the solution in which amino acids are dissolved mostly determine their ionic state. Cationic amino acids exist at low solution pH of approximately 1. An increase in solution pH causes the