Environmental Medicine Genome Bank (EMGB): Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium at an Eotaxin Locus on Chromosome 17

The Environmental Medicine Genome Bank (EMGB) was used to test a low cost, high throughput, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) - based genetic strategy to distinguish 3 genotypes for a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the eotaxin gene located on chromosome 17. Using amplification refractory mutation system PCR (ARMS-PCR), we determined the eotaxin ALA23-THR23 genotypes of 233 samples in the EMGB. The observed allele frequencies were then used to determine the distribution of genotypes that would be expected from the assumptions of the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. It was found that, for the overall cohort and for all but one small, heterogeneous subpopulation, the EMGB was in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium at this locus. The EMGB can therefore serve as a useful source of control material for studies of genes located near this locus at cytogenetic position 17q21. Prepared in cooperation with Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA.