Abstract
1. A purified O(H)-decomposing enzyme from Bac. fulminans, when incubated with O red cells or crude glycolipid extracted from them, released fucose, as the result abolishing their reactivity with anti-O(H) antibody in eel serum, and instead enhancing antigenicity common to Sh. Dysenteriae. The O(H)- and Leb-decomposing enzyme from Bac. Cereus released from the same materials fucose and galactose, consequently abolishing the O(H) activity completely, and instead enhancing antigenicity common to Dip. pneumoniae Type XIV.
2. From the amount of fucose liberated from red cells as the result of the enzyme action, the molecule number of sugar as the terminal determinant of the O(H) specificity per one red cell was computed.
