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Development of H Activity by Human Blood-Group B Substance treated with Coffee Bean α-Galactosidase

Nature volume 195, pages 1204–1206 (1962)Cite this article

Abstract

THE appearance of H specificity in the non-diffusible products remaining after the enzymatic destruction of A and B blood-group specificities has been observed with enzyme preparations from several different micro-organisms. Iseki and Masaki1 first reported that an A-decomposing enzyme from the bacterium Clostridium tertium destroyed the A serological activity of human saliva and hog A preparations and gave products which had H serological activity not shown by the A preparations before enzyme treatment. Enzyme preparations from the protozoan Trichomonas foetus similarly decompose A substance of human ovarian cyst and saliva origin with the disappearance of A specificity and the appearance of H specificity2. Extracts from T. foetus also contain a different enzyme which acts on human B substance with the destruction of B serological properties and the appearance of H specificity2,3, and bacterial enzymes from Bacillus cereus4 and Clostridium maebashi5 induce the same specificity changes in B substance.

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Author notes

  1. MARIE LUISE ZARNITZ

    Present address: Max Planck Institut für Biologie (Abt. Weidel), Tübingen, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, London, S.W.1

    WINIFRED M. WATKINS

  2. Departments of Microbiology and Neurology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University and the Neurological Institute, Presbyterian Hospital, New York

    MARIE LUISE ZARNITZ & ELVIN A. KABAT

Authors
  1. WINIFRED M. WATKINS
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  2. MARIE LUISE ZARNITZ
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  3. ELVIN A. KABAT
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WATKINS, W., ZARNITZ, M. & KABAT, E. Development of H Activity by Human Blood-Group B Substance treated with Coffee Bean α-Galactosidase. Nature 195, 1204–1206 (1962). https://doi.org/10.1038/1951204b0

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