Frequency of HLA-DQA1 alleles in the Japanese population

One of the HLA class II genes, HLA-DQA1, was typed from 290 unrelated healthy Japanese using the oligonucleotide typing method. The HLA-DQA1 gene was enzymatically amplified and typed by dot-blot hybridizations with 10 sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes labeled nonradioactively. Using this method, the HLA-DQA1 genotype was theoretically classified into 36 genotypes: 8 homozygous and 28 heterozygous ones. Actually, 26 genotypes were observed in the present study, and the gene frequency of each allele was calculated. The observed numbers were in accordance with the numbers expected under the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The HLA-DQA1 genotype was also determined in aged bloodstains. Since the genotype is polymorphic in the Japanese population and a very small amount of blood is required for determination, this typing is particularly useful for forensic analysis.