title: Alpha-thalassemia in Saudi Arabia: deletion pattern.
abstract: Alpha-Thalassemia exists at a high prevalence in several regions of Saudi Arabia. The restriction endonucleases BamHI and BglII were used to investigate the molecular basis of deletion type of alpha-thalassemia in 226 subjects from the eastern and 61 subjects from the northwestern regions of the country. The arrangements -alpha/alpha alpha and -alpha/-alpha were common. BglII digestion revealed the existence of rightward deletion in a majority of the cases. Leftward deletions, both homozygous and heterozygous, were also identified. Triple alpha-gene arrangements alpha alpha alpha anti 3.7/ were observed at a low frequency in both regions.
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D002885:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 16; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes; D015245:Deoxyribonuclease BamHI; D015252:Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific; D005914:Globins / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D013789:Thalassemia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D005914:Globins; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes; D015245:Deoxyribonuclease BamHI; C024404:BglII endonuclease; D015252:Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific