Acuity of selective mechanisms operating on ABO, Rh, and MN blood groups

Selection in ABO, Rh, and MN blood groups was studied in 216 matings and their children in an endogamous population. Incompatibility status with respect to these three systems was considered simultaneously. There is no effect of incompatibility on number of pregnancies. Analysis of variance between groups confirms that prenatal loss is associated with incompatibility, and it is greater when the matings are incompatible for any two systems. There is no significant intergenerational change in ABO and Rh polymorphisms. Segregation analysis for the ABO system suggests that there is no significant difference in the proportion of A, B, and O children, based on the compatibility of the parents, while analysis for Rh-D system showed a segregation distortion which is not related to the known antigenic specificities (mother-child incompatibility).