Mg and Mc: mutations within the amino-terminal region of glycophorin A

M and N are the two common ("normal") alleles at the MN locus of the MNSs blood group system. The antigens M and N that they determine are located within the amino-terminal region of glycophorin A. In the serologically active and glycosylated (*) fragment of glycophorin AN the sequence is Leu-Ser*-Thr*-Thr*-Glu-, and in that of glycophorin AM it is Ser-Ser*-Thr*-Thr*-Gly-. Mg and Mc are very rare ("variant") alleles of M and N; as to the corresponding antigens, Mg is serologically quite distinct from M and N, while Mc is a compound of both. Erythrocytes of genotypes MgN, MgM, MgMg, and McM, which were the object of the present study, contain normal amounts of glycophorin A in their membrane. In glycophorin AMg the amino-terminal sequence is related to that of glycophorin AN by substitution of asparagine for threonine in position 4, and it is nonglycosylated: Leu-Ser-Thr-Asn-Glu-. The corresponding structure of glycophorin AMc is Ser-Ser*-Thr*-Thr*-Glu-; it is thus closely related to that of glycophorin AN and AM, by substitution of the amino acids in positions 1 or 5, respectively. All of these substitutions can be explained by single base changes. The distinctions in chemical structure not only confirm the location of M and N in this region of glycophorin A, because they are the only differences observed, but also indicate, because they are correlated with the distinctions in antigenic specificity, that M and N are structural genes coding for amino acid sequences. The finding that Mc contains structural features of both M and N suggests that these two forms of glycophorin A have evolved from a common ancestral gene by single base substitutions at sites in the genome coding for amino acids in positions 1 and 5 of the sequence. Carbohydrate structures, however, are also necessary for full expression of antigens M and N. Glycosylation during biosynthesis of residues within the polypeptide appears to depend on a particular protein structure.