Abstract
Avery and Heidelberger 1 , 2 , 3 have shown that the nucleo-proteins obtained from the various types of Pneumococcus are species specific rather than specific for type, while the so-called “soluble substance”, carbohydrate in nature, is strictly type specific.
We have isolated, from several strains of non-hemolytic streptococci, similar substances which in their chemical and biological behavior show striking similarities to the “specific soluble” substance of pneumococci; they are probably similar to the “residue antigens” of Zinsser, 4 and his co-workers; and to the soluble precipitating substances of Hitchcock. 5 Precipitin reactions with the specific soluble substances from green streptococci are highly specific and show close agreement with agglutination reactions; further work on these substances is in progress.
Nucleo-proteins, on the other hand, seem to be serologically similar to each other. Anti-sera, prepared by immunizing four groups of rabbits with the nucleo-protein of four different strains of green streptococci, precipitated the nucleo-protein from five strains of green streptococci, from at least two strains of hemolytic streptococci and from the three type strains of pneumococci as well as from one strain of pneumococcus Group IV.∗
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