Purely speculation...but upon finally getting a media that allowed for 
axenic growth it turned out to be the 5th recipe that worked which was 
met with a joyous "HalleLujah!" hence HL5.

On 2014-01-23 8:44, Jason King wrote:
> Hi Dave,
>
> I just went and asked Don Watts for his thoughts (he’s retired but
> still in the lab here in Sheffield). Sadly no definitive answer, but
> here’s what he said, which may be of interest to all the DIcty
> historians out there:
>
> "The original axenic strain was selected by Maurice Sussman (actually
> he told me it was mainly his wife's work but she has never received
> credit). John Ashworth brought the strain back to Leicester when he
> left the Sussman group but I then found that the strain was very
> unstable and unusable and went on to select from it the relatively
> more stable Ax-2 strain. John later told me that, originally, he had
> had to grow the Sussman strain in a very complex medium when he first
> brought it to England but he found, as Professor Sussman had told 
> him,
> that the amoebae could be adapted to growth in a simpler medium
> called. HL5 to which we usually added glucose. I always used this 
> name
> but regret that I do not know its detailed origin. At about the same
> time that John and I published our papers on the Ax-2 strain (1970),
> Profeesor Sussman published a paper in, I think, J Gen Microbiol on
> his strain. It is possible that the co-author or John Ashworth or Mrs
> Sussmann, who I think is still living in USA, may remember the origin
> of the name. I don't believe that either Loomis or Lodish was
> involved.
>
> Incidentally, I always thought that HL5 referred only to the peptone,
> yeast extract and phosphate buffer and therefore called my medium HL5
> glucose if glucose had been added. It seems that some colleagues now
> use HL5 to refer to the medium replete with glucose which is a bit
> confusing. Amoebae will grow in the HL5 medium in the absence of
> glucose by using polysaccharides in the other components.”
>
> Jason
>
>  Jason King
> School of Biomedical Sciences,
> University of Sheffield,
> Firth Court,
> Western Bank,
> Sheffield,
> S10 2TN
> UK
>
> [log in to unmask] [1]
> Telephone: +44 (0)114 222 5116
>
> On 22 Jan 2014, at 20:34, Knecht, David <[log in to unmask] [2]>
> wrote:
>
>> I am in Dicty intro teaching mode and wondered if anyone knew who
>> coined the term HL5 (the first reference I have found so far called
>> it HL/5) and what the HL stands for? Bonus points for inaccurate but
>> humorous answers. Cheers- Dave
>>
>> David Knecht, Ph.D.
>>
>> Professor and Head of Core Microscopy Facility
>> Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
>> U-3125
>> 91 N. Eagleville Rd.
>> University of Connecticut
>> Storrs, CT 06269
>> 860-486-2200
>> 860-486-4331 (fax)
>
>
>
> Links:
> ------
> [1] mailto:[log in to unmask]
> [2] mailto:[log in to unmask]

-- 
-------------------------------------------------
Michael A. Myre, PhD
Instructor of Neurology, Asst. in Genetics
Center for Human Genetic Research
Massachusetts General Hospital
Harvard Medical School
185 Cambridge St. Rm. 5.612A
Boston, MA 02114
Ph. 617-643-5536
[log in to unmask]
Website: http://chgr.org/index-faculty_myre.html
Website: 
http://www.massgeneral.org/neurology/researcher_profiles/myre_michael.aspx
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