CHROMOSOME 6P MICROSATELLITE POLYMORPHISMS IN AFRICAN-AMERICANS

Allele frequency distributions were determined for seven microsatellit e DNA markers spanning the short arm of chromosome 6 in a population o f African-Americans. A total of 196 chromosomes were analyzed. African -Americans differed from reported studies on Caucasians in the number of alleles, allele frequency and predominating alleles. These differen ces resulted in higher heterozygosity and polymorphic information cont ent for these loci in the African-American population than in Caucasia ns, Each marker appeared to be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium within th is population. These results demonstrate the need to determine populat ion-specific allele frequency distributions for polymorphic markers wh en performing genetic linkage studies in racially defined groups. This study provides gene frequency data for this ethnic group in a region of the genome which has attracted attention as contributing genetic su sceptibility to a number of diseases.