Immunoglobulin allotypes in a Chinese population: comparison of haplotype frequencies with other Asian groups

Two groups of Chinese individuals of the city of Wuhan in the People's Republic of China, consisting of 98 blood bank donors and 278 workers in a steel factory, respectively, have been typed for G1m, G2m, G3m, A2m and Km allotypes. The Gm-A2m haplotype frequencies as well as the Km gene frequencies appeared to be quite similar in these two groups of people, the main haplotypes being Gmaf;n;b A2m2 and Gmza;..;g A2m1. After joining the data of the two groups, the frequencies of the main Gm haplotypes and the A2m and Km gene frequencies have been compared with those of six other Asian populations. In Asia, going from the south to the north, an increasing frequency of Gmza;..;g and a decreasing frequency of Gmaf;n;b were observed. The frequencies found in the investigated Chinese population lie between the frequencies found in the Chinese from Taiwan and the Japanese.