Study reveals mystery of diving mammals' underwater endurance (2)

"By mapping this molecular signature onto the family tree of mammals, we were able to reconstruct the muscle oxygen stores in extinct ancestors of today's diving mammals. We were even able to report the first evidence of a common amphibious ancestor of modern sea cows, hyraxes and elephants that lived in shallow African waters some 65 million years ago," Berenbrink said.

The study suggests that increased electrical charge of myoglobin in mammals that have high concentrations of this protein "causes electro-repulsion, like similar poles of two magnets," which prevent the proteins from sticking together.

This may be the reason why these divers have much higher concentrations of the oxygen-storing myoglobin in the muscles, the researchers said.

The research could help improve understanding of a number of human diseases where protein aggregation is a problem, such as Alzheimer's and diabetes, and could inform the development of artificial blood substitutes, they said.