Genetics of the Dombrock blood group system.

In April I965, anti-Doa, an antibody defining a 'new' red cell antigen, was reported (Swanson, Polesky, Tippett, and Sanger, I965).The present paper records the results of tests with anti-Doa on samples received in this unit from October I964 until April I966.Anti-Doa reacts best by the antiglobulin test on papainized cells, but only a minority of otherwise good antiglobulin sera are suitable.The y G or y M reputations of antiglobulin sera have not, so far, provided a guide for finding a suitable reagent.A second example of anti-Doa (Webb, Lockyer, and Tovey, I966) behaves in the same way. FrequenciesThe results of testing unrelated people in three populations are given in TableI. The figures for people of Northern European ancestry include 423 reported at Strasbourg (Tippett, Sanger, Swanson, and Polesky, I967).The gene frequencies are cal- culated on the assumption that the antigen Doa is a dominant character.It is seen in Table I that the gene frequencies for the Israelis are very similar to those for the Northern Europeans; on the other hand, 76 Negroes show a lower incidence of the gene Doa, which agrees with the findings of Polesky and Swanson (I966).