title: Population differences in the frequency of the agouti signaling protein g.8818a>G polymorphism.
abstract: The role of agouti signaling protein (ASIP) in human pigmentation pathways is not definitively understood although its murine homologue regulates, in part, pheomelanogenesis. We have reported an association of a polymorphism in the 3'-untranslated region of ASIP (g.8818A>G) with dark hair and eye color among a group of European-Americans (Am J Hum Genet 2002 March;70:770). Among 147 healthy control subjects, the frequency of the G-allele was 0.12. We hypothesized that this polymorphism would occur at different frequencies among different population groups. Using PCR-RFLP, we genotyped 25 East Asian, 86 African-American, and 207 West African individuals for the ASIP g.8818A>G polymorphism. The g.8818G-allele was present in the West African sample at a frequency of 0.80, in the African-American sample at a frequency of 0.62, and in the East Asian sample at 0.28. The difference in allele frequency among population groups was statistically significant (P < 0.0001). Although the effect of the g.8818A>G polymorphism upon ASIP function is unknown, the large difference in allele frequency between our West African and European-American sample populations lends support to the notion that this gene may be important in human pigmentation.
authors.affiliation: Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6021, USA.
authors.forename: Charnita
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zeigler-Johnson
authors.forename: Saarene
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Panossian
authors.forename: Serigne M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Gueye
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jalloh
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ofori-Adjei
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Kanetsky
mesh_terms: D054366:Agouti Signaling Protein; D000483:Alleles; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D054366:Agouti Signaling Protein; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D004247:DNA