Distribution of Methionine Synthase Reductase (MTRR) Gene A66G Polymorphism in Indian Population

Methionine synthase reductase (MTRR) is an important enzyme of the folate/homocysteine pathway. It is responsible for regulation of methionine enzyme by reductive methylation. A common variant A66G is reported in the FMN-binding domain of the MTRR gene, which leads to substitution of isoleucine by methionine (I22M) in MTRR enzyme with reduced activity. Reduced catalytic activity of enzyme leads to high homocysteine concentration in blood and increases risk for numerous diseases. The frequency of A66G polymorphism varies in different ethnic groups. The present study has been designed to evaluate the frequency of MTRR A66G gene polymorphism in the Eastern UP population by PCR-RFLP method. Along with this we also performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the global prevalence of this polymorphism. Databases were screened to identified the eligible studies. The prevalence of the G allele and GG genotype was determined by the use of prevalence proportion with 95% CI. Open meta-analyst software was used for the meta-analysis. Total 1000 blood samples were analyzed, the frequencies of A and G alleles were 0.35 and 0.65 respectively. Meta-analysis results revealed that the prevalence of G allele and GG genotype were 49.4% (95% CI 40.6-58.1, p ≤ 0.001) and 24.3% (95% CI 17.8-30.9, p ≤ 0.001) respectively. In sub-group meta-analysis, the lowest frequency of G allele was found in South America (32.7%; 95% CI 14.1-51.3, p ≤ 0.001), and highest in Asia (56.4%; 95% CI 39.5-73.3, p ≤ 0.001). The results of the meta-analysis showed that the Asian population has the highest frequency of G allele and highest frequency of the GG genotype was found in the European population.