STATENS SERUMINSTITUT

Copenhagen S. Denmark.

STATE SERUM INSTITUTE nO Telephone No.: Central 2835 (Open day & night).

Director: J. Orskov, M.D. Telegraphic Address: Statsserum, Copenhagen.

Gird Account No.: 2817.

Copenhagen July 17 1956
Professor Joshua Lederberg
Department of Genetics —
University of Wisconsin

- ‘Year Prefessor Lederberg,
thank you very much for your letter and the strains.The strain
WG 16 was not among the strains,but instead of that there was one
with the label WG 17(W 1633).
As to the examination of your. strains we have got the following
preliminary results: .

We 3001 can not be O-grouped because of autoagglutinability.The
strain is motile but does not agslutinate in any of the established
eoli‘H-sere 1-40.We therefore have produced an.H-serum with this

-strein and H<agglutimations in this serum are perfectly allright.

WG3 related to O-group 8 and O-group 2 93,immotile.

(Wed delongs to O-group 25,innotile. -

WG92 dces not belong to any of the known: O-groups;H-antigen is
not H1-H4o0.Biochemically the strain is not typical coli as it is”
citrate ‘positive.

W@28, spontaneously snglutinable roms but very poorly .H-an~
tigen related to H 19. | |

_WG28A weimnxz is strongly related to O-groups 133 end. 19 195 (mmedte .

WG33 belongs to O-group 21. Hantigen 4,

W237 belongs to O-grour 4 JH-antigen 5

WG39 also belongs to ca ana HS, reacts biochemically as WG37.
‘ WG40 belongs to O-group 'F,imnotile.

W643, belongs to O-groun 21,immotdle.

WG46 related to O76$H7.

WG47 is spontaneously agglutinable.d-antigen does not belong
to anv of the known H- antigens.

WG48 belongs to 081, H-antigen 27,

WG51 autoageluting able,immotile.

WG56 026:B

\ 9657 not cosy hs jhelones to O°5,and has H-santisen 12,bioche-
Googe - sos

mically as the teststrain for O-group 256

, WG15. belongs: to 086, H-antigen 12.

MGLT, ‘belongs, to, O41, imnotile.

WG24 belongs: to..040,;H13

WG26 belongs to 01,H12.
The streins, 52,53,54,and 55 have given us some trobles.W@ 52 gives react:
tions identical with those of the teststrain for O- -group 18,H-antigenl4.
WG54 gives reactions similar to the teststrain for O-group 21.
WG 53 is am a mixture of 1)018,biochemicslly as G52,2)020,imnotile,
biochemically as teststrain 020 and 3) a culture whch is biochemicelly
like teststrain 620,but does either agglutinate in “ny of our O-sera
nor is it ‘spontaneously agglutineble,immotile as O20.

WG55'is a mixture of 1)021,biochemically as the teststrain,imnotile
and 2)025,biochemically as the teststrain,H-antigen 12.
We have twice subcultured from your original agar stab culture both
Lita with the same result. The. rs
Tf we have understood you right the” next step will -be to choose
some strains which contain known 0 and H arttigens,but ere autually
different as to thaix these antigens‘and to their biochemical behe-
viour ‘and then dheck then fot their K-antigens.As the number of dif-
ferent K antigens in the coli‘ group seems to be very high and as we for
the moment only have established 79.K-numbers it probably will turn
‘out that new K-sera will: have to be ‘produced with a great many of these
strains. an :

You suggested in one of your earlier letters‘that we should’ get in
contact with Dr. Heymann.Some weeks ‘ago we called on ‘Br Heymann and we
peally had a most pleasent meating and both’ we and the ! *eymann fenily
were most interested in some sort of coordination | of our r housing and
nursing problems during’ our stay in “adison. .

Our dissertation papers have now been accepted for justification,
which means thet the public justification procedure will take place on
September 27 and October 2’ respectively and we leave ‘Copenhagen Octo=-
ber 9. I feel that we will get. some’ rather hectic days before we leave.

, , vith kind regards
, Yours

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