Variants of Ovine Alkaline Serum Phosphatases and Their Association with the R-O Blood Groups

Abstract

When sheep sera are subjected to electrophoresis in starch gels and the gels are stained with phosphatase dyes, it is possible, with few exceptions, to demonstrate 2 clearly demarcated zones of phosphatase activity named A and B, in decreasing rate of migration. All 177 samples exhibited activity in zone A and some in zone B. It is shown that phosphatase activity in zone B is highly correlated with the presence of the soluble blood group substance called O (or r). The nature of the association between “B” phosphatase and the O substance is not known.