[Difference in HLA-A*02 allele distribution between Han populations in south and north China]

To investigate the distributions of HLA-A*02 alleles in Han populations and compare their difference between the south and north in China.

A total of 208 individuals from south China and 109 from north China were randomly selected from registered bone marrow donors in Chinese Han population, who were tested positive for HLA-A*02 alleles by PCR with sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP). Genotyping of the alleles was performed using PCR-sequence-based typing (PCR-SBT).

Six different HLA-A*02 alleles (A*020101, A*0203, A*0205, A*0206, A*0207 and A*0210) were identified in the two Chinese Han populations, of which A*0207(37%) was the predominant allele in southerners and A*020101(48%) in the northerners. A*020101(31%), A*0203(16%) and A*0206(14%) were common alleles in the southerners in comparison with A*0206(21%) and A*0207(23%) alleles in the northerners. The overall distribution of A*02 alleles and the frequencies of A*020101, A*0203 and A*0207 in the two populations differed significantly. The heterozygosity of A*02 in the southerners and northerners was higher than 90% and 80% at the high- and low-resolution levels, respectively, and the distribution of A*02 homozygote at low-resolution level in both populations showed diversity and regularity at high-resolution level.

HLA-A*02 alleles possess high heterogeneity and genetic diversity in Chinese Han population with significantly different distributions in the two populations. HLA-A**020101, A*0203 and A*0207 may serve as the genetic markers for dividing Chinese Han individuals into southerners and northerners in anthropological studies.