Studies on bovine serum amylase; evidence for two loci

Two genetically controlled polymorphic systems of amylase enzymes are described in sera from Friesian, Jersey, Guernsey, Hereford, Ayrshire and Charolais cattle. One of these Ami has been described previously and is controlled by two codominant alleles in British cattle, AmI ^B and AmI ^C. Evidence presented here suggests that it could be a gamma.amylase. The other enzyme which is described here for the first time has many of the properties of an alpha amylase. It is also polymorphic and controlled by two codominant alleles AmII ^A and AmII ^B. AmII ^A is only present in low frequency. The inheritance of both enzyme systems has been studied in 419 families.