title: Structural variation in the alleles of a short tandem repeat system at the human alpha fibrinogen locus.
abstract: This paper reports the sequences of 22 alleles identified at the HumFGA (human alpha fibrinogen) short tandem repeat locus in the British Caucasian and Afro-Caribbean populations. Alleles at the lower end of the observed size range were found to increase in size by 4-bp increments with the repeat unit following the pattern TC(TCTT)n. However, 5 alleles were identified that differed in size by 2 bp from the 4 bp increment as a result of the deletion of a TC dinucleotide, or the addition of a TT dinucleotide, immediately prior to the 1st repeat unit. Alleles at the upper end of the observed size range were found to have a more complex repeat unit structure and also exhibited duplication of both 5' and 3' flanking sequences. A nomenclature for the designation of HumFGA alleles is proposed on the basis of this sequence data.
authors.affiliation: Metropolitan Police Forensic Science Laboratory, London, UK.
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Barber
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: McKeown
authors.forename: B H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Parkin
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D044383:Black People / Q000235:genetics; D002894:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 4; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D006801:Humans; D007256:Information Systems; D008131:London; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics