Studies on blood-groups A1 and A2. Further evidence for the predominant influence of quantitative differences in the number of A antigenic sites present on A1 and A2 erythrocytes.

Blood-group O and A2 erythrocytes were treated with the A1-gene-dependent and A2-gene-dependent N-acetylgalactosaminyl transferases in the present of UDP-N-acetyl[14C]galactosamine. Although the transfer of N-acetyl[14C]galactosamine with A2 transferase was slower than with A1 enzyme, group O as well as A2 cells became agglutinable by anti-A1 reagents when incubated with both transferases. Fractionation of the labelled erythrocyte stroma into glycoprotein and glycolipid components showed an approximately equal distribution pattern of radioactivity in all experiments. Likewise, when the short-chain glycolipids and polyglycosylceramides isolated from the labelled stroma were further analyzed by thin-layer chromatography, no major differences were detected in the chromatographic profiles of O and A2 cells when treated with either transferase. These observations indicate that (a) the blood-group-H-type oligosaccharide chains of A2 cells may be similar to those of group-O cells and (b) the serological differences between A1 and A2 cells are likely to be due to a lower density of A-antigenic sites on A2 cells.