Letter | Published:

Evolutionary conservation of H-Y (‘male’) antigen

Nature 254, 270–272 (1975) | Download Citation

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Abstract

THE male specific (H-Y) antigen of mice was discovered with the observation that within certain inbred strains, females reject male skin grafts, whereas skin grafts exchanged between all other sex combinations are accepted1 (reviewed in ref. 2). It is now established that females sensitised with male skin grafts (or immunised with male spleen cells) produce antibody which is cytotoxic for sperm3 and dissociated male epidermal cells4. Using the sperm cytotoxicity test and the mixed haemadsorption-hybrid antibody (MHA˙HA) test, we demonstrated earlier5 that the H-Y antigen of mice is cross reactive or identical with antigen found in male rats, guinea pigs, rabbits and humans. Since then we have extended our survey to classes other than mammals, and we give evidence here for the occurrence of murine H-Y (or a cross reactive) antigen in the white leghorn chicken (Gallus domesticus) and in two amphibian species, the leopard frog (Rana pipiens) and the South African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis).

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    1. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, 10021

      • STEPHEN S. WACHTEL
      • , GLORIA C. KOO
      •  & EDWARD A. BOYSE

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    https://doi.org/10.1038/254270a0

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