title: Systematic classification of alleles of the glycophorin A (MN blood group) gene.
abstract: Ten alleles (five M and five N alleles) of the MN blood group system with normal antigenicity were found by sequencing the glycophorin A (GPA) gene. This study demonstrates the systematic classification of these alleles to major or minor variations of the standard alleles. GPA-specific fragments ranging from 150 to 3.8 kb in length were amplified from the templates, and exons 1-7 and introns 1-6 were sequenced. The data were analyzed phylogenetically to classify these alleles into major groups or clusters. The ten alleles were grouped into four major clusters M10X (M101-M103), M20X (M201 and M202), N10X (N101-N104) and N20X (N201), where 'X' represents a digit indicating minor variations. This grouping was supported by phylogenetic analysis. The cluster system of GPA alleles is highly informative for genetic screening.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Tokyo Medical University, 6-1-1 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8402, Japan. mizukamh@tokyo-med.ac.jp
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mizukami
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Akane
authors.forename: Nori
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nakayashiki
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shiono
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D001483:Base Sequence; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006021:Glycophorins / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008951:MNSs Blood-Group System / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D006021:Glycophorins; D008951:MNSs Blood-Group System