Quantitative estimates of ABH secretion in saliva of human twins

Blood and saliva samples of 122 like-sexed twin pairs (65 MZ and 57 DZ) living in Chandigarh (India) were analyzed for ABH polymorphism. The results indicated that ABH secretions were independent of ABO blood groups though there was an indication of higher incidence of non-secretors among 'O' blood group twin individuals. No significant differences were observed between twins and singletons in secretor gene frequency estimates. The quantitative data revealed that mean titre scores for H substances were lower than that for A and B substances. F test contrasting intra-pair variance between zygosities for ABH quantitative secretions was highly significant indicating stronger genetic component of variation. The results suggested that quantitative assay of ABH secretions would be a better indicator for zygosity determination than mere qualitative differentiation.