Horseshoe crabs are bled in the PBS documentary Crash. These arthropods' blood uses a different protein, called hemocyanin , to bind oxygen. Because that binding process involves an atom of copper, rather than iron, the blood has a blue appearance when it's oxygenated, and little or no color when it's not. Entirely separate from the color, horseshoe crab blood also has a chemical called coagulogen that can detect bacterial contamination at extremely low concentrations.
It's very useful for testing pharmaceuticals, which is why companies collect horseshoe crabs and bleed them alive, as shown in the PBS documentary Crash. A number of other marine species also have hemocyanin in their blood, and depending on the surrounding tissue, it can sometimes appear purplish, like in this red rock crab :.
A cut-open red rock crab. Jerry Kirkhart. Meanwhile, some marine worms such as peanut worms , have purple blood for a different reason: an oxygen-binding protein called hemerythrin. Like hemocyanin, it only turns color when oxygenated, and in some species — like the peanut worm — you can see this purple color without cutting them open, thanks to somewhat translucent skin:.
Finally, there are other marine worms called polychaetes that have blood with yet another oxygen-binding protein, called chlorocruonin. Chemically, it's similar to hemoglobin, and uses iron to bind oxygen.
And though it looks red when concentrated, when it's more diluted, it can appear bright green and, as with peanut worms, can be seen through the skin :.
Read more : Andy Brunning takes on another interesting chemistry question: Why does old book smell have hints of vanilla? Copper is an essential trace element that is vital to the health of all living things. Slugs and snails use copper atoms to transport vital oxygen around their bodies in a manner similar to how humans use iron atoms.
Vertebrates have red blood. The colour comes from a molecule called haemoglobin, which is found in red blood cells. Haemoglobin carries oxygen around the body and it uses iron atoms to hold the oxygen and then release it. Some invertebrates use a molecule called haemocyanin to carry oxygen around their bodies using copper atoms instead of iron. Snails, lobsters and spiders actually have blue blood properly called haemolymph. The colour comes from the copper atoms in the haemocyanin molecule, which is blue when it is carrying an oxygen atom.
Haemocyanin, like haemoglobin and chlorophyll in green plants, is a metalloprotein. This is a protein that contains metal atoms. Nature has plenty of examples of metalloproteins. This begs the question, wouldn't it be easier to produce the protein genetically instead of extracting it from the marine snail? Back in , biosyn, along with a team from the University of Mainz, deciphered and patented the gene sequence of the limpet haemocyanin, but, as Riedmayr explains, genetic engineering of the protein is considered too complicated because of its size.
Riedmayr points out that the company, which has 75 employees, has invested enormous amounts of money in the development of its haemocyanin products over the years. The company's research is funded with revenue from its nutritional supplements and patent-free drugs, notably for cancer, intensive care medicine and thyroid diseases.
In addition to the trace element selenium, the natural product from the sea is one of the two most important product pillars of the company that was founded in Olsson CA et al. Immunologic reduction of bladder cancer recurrence rate.
J Urol 2 : Please enable Javascript in your browser. Blue light doesn't penetrate our skin as well as red light, so it bounces back to our eyes and makes our veins appear blue. Want to engage with this content? Comment on this article on our Facebook Page! Enter your keywords. Sign-Up Here. Squashing Some Mosquito Myths 9 Jul
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