ALLELIC LADDER CHARACTERIZATION OF THE SHORT TANDEM REPEAT POLYMORPHISM IN INTRON 6 OF THE LIPOPROTEIN-LIPASE GENE AND ITS APPLICATION IN AN AUSTRIAN CAUCASIAN POPULATION STUDY

The short tandem repeat (STR) polymorphism HumLPL (TTTA)(n), which is located in intron 6 of the lipoprotein lipase gene, was investigated b y AMPFLP (amplification fragment length polymorphism)-technique using an allelic ladder consisting of amplified alleles of this locus as a s tandard size marker. The allelic ladder was prepared by pooling equal concentrations of six separate alleles, which were identified by their different electrophoretic mobility in native polyacrylamide gel, elut ed and subsequently amplified. Sequence analysis of the ladder alleles and allele 7, which is not included in the ladder, showed a regular r epeat structure with 7 and 9 to 14 repetitions of the core repeat. The allelic ladder was employed in the analysis of the genotypes of 550 u nrelated Caucasoids of Austria. No new alleles were found. The populat ion investigated showed no deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium ( P = 0.195).