Molecular genetic analysis of variant phenotypes of the ABO blood group system

ABO is clinically the most important blood group system in transfusion medicine and includes many variant phenotypes. To understand the molecular genetic basis of this polymorphic system, we have analyzed genomic DNAs obtained from Japanese individuals possessing variant ABO phenotypes including A2, Ax, Ael, cis-AB, Bx, and Bel. By polymerase chain reaction-single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) and nucleotide sequence analyses, we identified 11 different alleles. These alleles had nucleotide sequences different from those of the previously described 13 different alleles responsible for the common ABO phenotypes. Analysis of the nucleotide sequences of the alleles responsible for those variant phenotypes showed that the amino acid residues at position 266 and 268 may be crucial for transferase specificity, whereas those at positions 214, 216, 223, 291, and 352 may be critical for the activity level. Nine of the 11 alleles, responsible for the A2, Ax, Ael, cis-AB, Bx, and Bel phenotypes, were presumed to be generated from common ABO alleles by single nucleotide mutations such as nonsynonymous substitution, deletion, or insertion. Two other alleles, responsible for the A2 and Ael phenotypes, may have originated by recombination, gene conversionlike events or accumulation of nucleotide substitutions. Our data indicate that different alleles could cause the same ABO variant phenotypes, and that these alleles do not necessarily belong to a single evolutionary lineage.