Systematic classification of alleles of the glycophorin A (MN blood group) gene
Hajime Mizukami1, Atsushi Akane, Nori Nakayashiki
1Department of Forensic Medicine, Tokyo Medical University, 6-1-1 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8402, Japan. mizukamh@tokyo-med.ac.jp
Abstract:
Ten alleles (five M and five N alleles) of the MN blood group system with normal antigenicity were found by sequencing the glycophorin A (GPA) gene. This study demonstrates the systematic classification of these alleles to major or minor variations of the standard alleles. GPA-specific fragments ranging from 150 to 3.8 kb in length were amplified from the templates, and exons 1-7 and introns 1-6 were sequenced. The data were analyzed phylogenetically to classify these alleles into major groups or clusters. The ten alleles were grouped into four major clusters M10X (M101-M103), M20X (M201 and M202), N10X (N101-N104) and N20X (N201), where 'X' represents a digit indicating minor variations. This grouping was supported by phylogenetic analysis. The cluster system of GPA alleles is highly informative for genetic screening.
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