Polymorphism of red cell S-formylglutathione hydrolase in a Finnish population

Red cell hemolysates from a Finnish population sample (n = 242) were fractionated by isoelectric focusing on polyacrylamide gel, and S-formylglutathione hydrolase (EC 3.1.2.12) was located by activity staining. Polymorphism, which is probably genetically determined, was found. The samples from most persons studied gave one major enzyme band, whereas for 6 persons three enzyme bands were found. The enzyme is a dimer, and the polymorphism observed appears to result from two alleles, FGH1 and FGH2 at an autosomal locus. The frequency found for FGH1 was 0.988.