Substitutions in woolly mammoth hemoglobin confer biochemical properties adaptive for cold tolerance.

We have genetically retrieved, resurrected and performed detailed structure-function analyses on authentic woolly mammoth hemoglobin to reveal for the first time both the evolutionary origins and the structural underpinnings of a key adaptive physiochemical trait in an extinct species. Hemoglobin binds and carries O(2); however, its ability to offload O(2) to respiring cells is hampered at low temperatures, as heme deoxygenation is inherently endothermic (that is, hemoglobin-O(2) affinity increases as temperature decreases). We identify amino acid substitutions with large phenotypic effect on the chimeric beta/delta-globin subunit of mammoth hemoglobin that provide a unique solution to this problem and thereby minimize energetically costly heat loss.