A PCR-based strategy for Dombrock screening in Brazilian blood donors reveals a novel allele: the DOA-WL

Background: Determination of the molecular basis underlying the antigens in the Dombrock blood group system has shown various rearrangements between the alleles associated with DO*A and DO*B. Based on this, we employed a PCR‐based strategy to screen DO alleles (DO*A, DO*B, HY*1, HY*2 and JO) in Brazilians. Methods: We tested DNA of 278 Brazilian blood donors by PCR‐RFLP on plates of 96 wells to determine the 793A/G (DO*A/DO*B), 323G/T (HY), 350C/T (JO) and 898C/G (HY*1/HY*2) single nucletide polymorphisms. In order to confirm the results sequence analysis was also performed. Results: When samples of these donors were analyzed, a novel allele combination, the DO*A allele (793A and 323G) associated with 898G was identified and designated as DO*A‐WL allele. This new allele encoding 300Val is the same as HY*1 at nucleotide 898 on the molecular background of DO*A. Among the 556 alleles analyzed by PCR‐RFLP, 3 were DO*A‐WL and 78 were DO*B‐WL. This represents an overall frequency of 0.5% for DO*A‐WL and 14% for DO*B‐WL across the population studied. Conclusion: Molecular screening of Brazilians revealed one novel allele, the DO*A‐WL. Our data highlight the importance of testing a cohort of different populations to determine DO haplotypes and to establish reliable genotyping tests for predicting Doa/Dob status. J. Clin. Lab. Anal. 25:79–82, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.