Mitochondria DNA 4977 bp common deletion in peripheral whole blood from healthy donors

To investigate the distribution of mitochondria DNA 4 977 bp deletion, a common deletion (CD), in normal populations of Chinese, human peripheral blood samples from sixty healthy donors were collected, and levels of the CD in genomic DNA from the samples were detected using real-time PCR. The results showed that the CD was found in 27 health donors, with its positive rate being 45% (27/60). The CD ratio was between 0 and 0.00308%, and not affected by age and gender in sixty healthy donors. Our studies indicate that the CD ratio is low, and do not show the age-dependent accumulation and any gender difference in peripheral whole blood from the normal Chinese population.