[Characteristics of polymorphism of 129th amino acid in PRNP among Han and Uighur Chinese].
BACKGROUND
An amino acid polymorphism for Met to Val has been identified at PrP codon 129 from different human races. In this study,the characteristics of polymorphism of PRNP 129th amino acid in Han and Uighur Chinese have been investigated.


METHODS
Human DNAs were extracted from peripheral lymphocytes and PrP gene fragments were amplified with a specific PCR protocol. The distribution of 129th amino acid in PRNP was determined by a PCR-RFLP and the results were analyzed with software SAS for Windows 6.12.


RESULTS
The frequencies of the allele 129 Met and 129 Val were 97.0% and 3.0% in Han Chinese, whereas 91.4% and 8.6% in Uighur Chinese. The frequency of 129 M/M phenotypes in Han Chinese was significantly higher than that in Uighur Chinese (P=0.0490). Comparing the phenotype distributions of codon 129 of Han Chinese with that of Japanese and Caucasian, there was significant difference with Caucasian (P=0.0005),but there was no difference with Japanese (P=0.5040).


CONCLUSIONS
The polymorphism of 129th amino acid in PRNP of Han Chinese is similar to Japanese, but different from Uighur Chinese.
Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, Beijing 100052, China.
Xingsheng
X
Hou
Chen
C
Gao
Baoyun
B
Zhang
Wei
W
Zhou
Hong
H
Liu
Xiaoping
X
Dong
D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics; D002681:China; D003062:Codon / Q000235:genetics*; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D017096:Prion Diseases / Q000235:genetics; D011328:Prions / Q000235:genetics*; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics
D003062:Codon; D011328:Prions