Fetal Hemoglobin
It is interesting to note that fetal hemoglobin (HbF) exhibits a low affinity for 2,3-BPG, resulting in a higher binding affinity for oxygen. This increased oxygen-binding affinity relative to that of adult hemoglobin (HbA) is due to HbF's having two α/γ dimers as opposed to the two α/β dimers of HbA. The positive histidine residues of HbA β-subunits that are essential for forming the 2,3-BPG binding pocket are replaced by serine residues in HbF γ-subunits. Like that, histidine nº143 gets lost, so 2,3-BPG has difficulties in linking to the fetal hemoglobin, and it looks like the pure hemoglobin. That’s the way O2 flows from the mother to the fetus. As we can see in the following image, fetal hemoglobin has more affinity to oxygen than adult hemoglobin. Moreover, myoglobin has the highest affinity to oxygen.
Differences between myoglobin (Mb), fetal hemoglobin (Hb F), adult hemoglobin (Hb A)
Read more about this topic: 2,3-Bisphosphoglyceric Acid