AbstractEmbryonic globin chains were found to be synthesized in vitro by the BFU‐E colonies derived from adult sickle cell anemia (SS) patients, their heterozygous relatives as well as a few normal controls. In the absence of sufficient material for conducting direct structural analyses of these peptides, they were confirmed by evaluating the co‐migration of the ϵ‐ and ζ‐chains with the corresponding structurally characterized globin chains obtained from K562 cell lysates on a reversed phase high performance liquid chromatogram. The presence of ζ‐chain was also confirmed using an immunologic procedure. Furthermore, significant35S‐methionine incorporation peak was observed corresponding to the ζ‐chain synthesized by the BFU‐E‐derived colonies implying an active synthesis of this embryonic globin chain in BFU‐E cells obtained from hemopo