USE OF POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION FOR ALLELE DISTRIBUTION ANALYSIS OF VARIABLE-NUMBER TANDEM REPEATS AMONG 120 UNRELATED RUSSIAN INDIVIDUALSLIVING IN MOSCOW

Frequencies of allele occurrence in four variable-number tandem repeat (VNTR) regions (loci D1S80, D17S30, APOB, and IGHJ) were determined i n 120 unrelated Russian individuals living in Moscow. A high level of polymorphism was revealed for these hypervariable regions, characteriz ed by the presence of alleles of different length. Distribution of gen otypes with respect to these loci was established on the basis of the data obtained. Comparative analysis showed similar allele distribution of the VNTRs studied among Russians and other groups of Caucasians li ving in Europe and North America.