BLOOD GROUPS OF CHIMPANZEES: DEMONSTRATED WITH ISOIMMUNE SERUMS

Abstract

Of five chimpanzees injected with blood of other chimpanzees in Freund's adjuvant, three produced antiserums for simian blood factors designated A(c), B(c), and C(c), respectively. Factors Ac and Bc determine four blood groups which were distributed among 60 chimpanzees in conformity with the triple-allele hypothesis. Factor C(c) appears to belong to an independent blood group system. All three simian blood factors are distributed independently of sex. An antithetical relation exists between the simian blood factor A(c) and blood factor N(v), the latter being a blood factor shared by all human N cells. Since the simian blood factors A(c) and B(c) are also related, the three blood factors A(c), B(c), and N(v) must belong to one and the same blood group system, which is named the V-A-B blood group system of chimpanzees. The V-A-B blood group system of chimpanzees appears to be the counterpart of the M-N-S blood group system of man.