Distribution of CCR5-delta 32 gene deletion across the Russian part of Eurasia

32-bp inactivating deletion in the beta-chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) gene, common in Nothern European populations, is associated with reduced HIV-1 transmission risk and delayed disease progression. We have studied the deletion distribution in many populations in Eurasia by polymerase chain reaction analysis of 531 DNA samples representing West and East Siberian, Central Asian, and Far Eastern parts of Russia. An unusually high frequency (11.1%) of the deleted variant in natives of West Siberia, of Finno-Ugrian descent, was observed. Furthermore, the deletion was infrequent in indigenous populations of Central Asia, East Siberia, the Russian Far East, and Canada. We conclude that the delta(ccr5) distribution is limited primarily to Europeans and related western Siberian Finno-Ugrian populations, with a sharp negative gradient toward the east along the territory of Russian Asia.