Hotel Near FIU - How Marine Mammals Hold Their Breath

Source - http://www.designntrend.com/
By - Michael Briggs
Category - Hotel Near FIU
Posted By - Homewood Suites Miami

Hotel Near FIU

Scientists have discovered the secret to how mammals store oxygen to ensure that they can access it in extreme conditions—like the sperm whale that holds its breath for up to 90 minutes.

The team of researchers studied myoglobin, an oxygen-storing protein found in mammals' muscles, and found that in certain species, the myoglobin feature 'non-stick' properties that allow the animal to store large amounts of oxygen into their muscles.

The process has long puzzled scientists, who pondered exactly why the sperm whale can survive for 90 minutes without surfacing for oxygen while dophins and some whales can only withstand 20 minutes without coming up for air.

"At high enough concentrations, [proteins] tend to stick together, so we tried to understand how seals and whales evolved higher and higher concentrations of this protein in their muscles without a loss of function," study co-author Dr Michael Berenbrink told BBC News. 

Extracting myoglobin from various different species on the spectrum, including a cow, otter, and sperm whale, the group examined the changes in myoglobin in deep-diving mammals through 200 million years of evolutionary history. What they discovered was that the greatest deep-sea divers had myoglobin that were positively charged.

"Our study suggests that the increased electrical charge of myoglobin in mammals that have high concentrations of this protein causes electro-repulsion, like similar poles of two magnets," study lead author Dr Scott Mircet said.

"This should prevent the proteins from sticking together and allow much higher concentrations of the oxygen-storing myoglobin in the muscles of these divers."

Berenbrink added that the discovery is particularly intriguing because it showed that the physiological change accompanied the transition mammals made from land to water.

"It also allows us to estimate the dive times of the ancient ancestors of whales," he explained.

"We can look the fossils and predict the dive times they had."

The team's findings were published in the journal Science.