Heterogeneity and diversity of ABO and Rh blood group genes in select Saudi Arabian populations

In order to investigate the diversity of ABO and Rh blood group genes in the Saudi Arabian population, we assembled the phenotypic data of approximately 66,000 subjects from ten representative Saudi populations: Al-Khobar, Riyadh, Tabuk/Madina Al-Munawaara, Jeddah, Abha, South region, Sakaka, Domah, Al-Qurayat, and Sweer. The frequencies of p[A], q[B], and r[O] alleles at the ABO locus were observed to be 0.1688, 0.1242, and 0.7070, respectively, and the frequency of the D allele at the Rh locus was 0.7138. The heterozygosities at the ABO and Rh loci were 0.4563 and 0.4086, respectively, while the combined heterozygosity was 0.4324. Homogeneity tests revealed the population of Abha to be the most heterogeneous while that of Tabuk/Madina was found to be the least heterogeneous. Homogeneity was higher among the Northern populations while Southern populations demonstrated subdivisions and stratification. Gene diversity analyses yielded a total heterozygosity value of 0.4449. The coefficient of gene differentiation was 0.0090. Nei's genetic distance analyses showed that there was close affinity between the populations of Al-Khobar and Riyadh. The largest differences were observed between the populations of Sakaka and Domah. Furthermore, negative correlations were found between p[A] and r[O] alleles, and between q[B] and r[O] alleles at the ABO locus. Clinal analyses revealed that the r[O] allele showed an increasing trend from North-East to South-West, and conversely the q[B] allele exhibited a decreasing trend at these coordinates. These analyses present interesting aspects of the blood group allele distribution across the geography of Saudi Arabia.