DISTRIBUTION OF PLASMA ALPHA-1-B-GLYCOPROTEIN (A1BG) POLYMORPHISM IN SEVERAL POPULATIONS OF THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT

The distribution of plasma alpha1B-glycoprotein (A1BG) was determined by a two-dimensional electrophoresis (agarose-polyacrylamide gel) foll owed by protein staining in a group of 1099 individuals from 11 popula tions of the Indian subcontinent. The sample comprised 454 from severa l tribes of Arunachal Pradesh; 76 Bengali Hundus and 88 Bengali Muslim s; 179 Tamil Hindus from Singapore and 107 from India; 81 Tamil Muslim s, 48 Sinhalese from Sri Lanka and 66 North Indians, Three common A1BG phenotypes (1-1, 1-2 and 2-2) were observed in this study. One each o f a new allele (A1BG7) in heterozygous form (1-7) was detected respec tively among Tamil Hindus of India and Singapore. The phenotypic distr ibution of A1BG alleles was at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in all the p opulations. The frequency of A1BG2 was in general lower in the Mongol oid tribes of Arunachal Pradesh (0.043-0.104) and North Indians (0.068 ) compared to that in other Indian populations (0.130-0.171) and Sinha lese (0.208).