The F–v and Z Systems of Bovine Blood Groups

VIDENCE for two extensive series of alleles effecting blood groups in E cattle has been given in a previous report ( S T ~~~~O N T , OWEN ant1 IRWIN 1951).The two systems of blood groups are called R ;uid c'.Over 80 alleles are now recognized in the R series.The 1: alleles control so-callet1 " groups '' or '* inherited combinations " of a niininiuni of 21 hlood factors.For example, the R allele 13B01y2D' controls the €3 group BBolYeD, comprised of a combination of four known blood factors B, O,, Yz and D' inherited " en masse " as a unit genetic character.Similarly, a tninimuni of 22 C alleles control the groups of inherited coinhinations of seven blood factors.Now, in the previous report (Zoc.cit.) 38 blood factors were utilized in the genetic analysis of the R and C systems, and, as pointed out, 21 of these were assigned to the B system and seven to the C system.Of the remaining 10 blood factors, all except the rare factor Z' were excluded as members of both the B and C systems.The present report is concerned with the inheritance of three of these 10 remaining blood factors, F, V and Z.It is shown that two oi these, F and V, are a pair of contrasting characters of a third system of lmvine blood groups while the Z factor contrasts with its absence as a pair of groups in a fourth system.