TRINUCLEOTIDE REPEAT POLYMORPHISM WITHIN EXON-5 OF THE MICA GENE (MHCCLASS-I CHAIN-RELATED GENE-A) - ALLELE FREQUENCY DATA IN THE 9 POPULATION GROUPS JAPANESE, NORTHERN HAN, HUI, UYGUR, KAZAKHSTAN, IRANIAN, SAUDI-ARABIAN, GREEK AND ITALIAN

We recently identified a trinucleotide repeat polymorphism, (GCT)n, wi thin the transmembrane (TM) segment of the human MHC class I MICA gene (MHC class I chain-related gene A). Five distinct alleles (A4, A5, A5 .1, A6, A9) corresponding to 4, 5, 5 with one nucleotide insertion, 6 and 9 repetitions, respectively, have been detected in various HLA hom ozygous B cell lines. Here we present allele frequencies for this trim eric short tandem repeat (STR) in 604 unrelated individuals collected from nine human populations (Japanese, Northern Han, Hui, Uygur, Kazak hstan, Iranian, Saudi Arabian, Greek and Italian) determined using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) combined with fluorescent-based autom ated fragment detection technology. All alleles were present in each p opulation, but allelic distributions varied from one population to ano ther. No new alleles (such as A7 or A8) were identified. The evolution ary and structural significance of these data as well as the potential application to forensic medicine is discussed.