Why can marine mammals breathe long underwater?

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have answered the secret of the most important adaptation in the animal world: 'Why can marine mammals store oxygen to breathe underwater for long periods of time?' .

Scientists have studied myoglobin , a protein that stores oxygen in the muscles of mammalian marine animals. It's a non-stick protein.

Sperm fish can dive underwater for up to an hour at a depth of 1 km - (Photo: BBC News)

Dr Michael Berenkrink from the University of Liverpool Institute of General Biology said: 'At high concentrations, proteins tend to stick together, so we are trying to understand how seals and whales are In evolution, it is possible to concentrate this protein in muscle without losing muscle function. '

Myoglobin is taken from the mammalian muscles, from terrestrial cows, semi-aquatic otter to species that specialize in deep diving like sperm whales. Results showed a change in myoglobin in this deep-diving mammal. Myoglobin is not sticky during the past 200 million years.

Dr. Berenkrink explained the more myoglobin of a positively charged marine mammal, similar to the internal anodes in magnets, that will repel each other. In this way, it can "pack" high-protein proteins into its muscles, because it repels each other so it cannot stick and affect muscle blockage.

This incredible secret decoding has made an important contribution in the area of ​​evolutionary biology, once better understanding the mechanism that occurs in mammalian bodies as it evolves from land animals to living species. near water, and become a breathing machine that lives in the oceans today.