title: Haptoglobin polymorphism among fourteen populations of India.
abstract: Haptoglobin (HP) is a serum protein that has the capability of binding the extracorpuscular haemoglobin released during haemolysis. It plays an important role in protection of haemolytic disease by reducing the oxidative and peroxidative potential at free haemoglobin. The present study was aimed to determine the prevalence of HP polymorphism among different Indian populations, anthropologically belonging to diverse ethnicity. The polymorphism was screened among 642 unrelated individuals belonging to 14 population groups of India including both tribal and non-tribal caste groups from different geographical regions of India with distinct linguistic affiliations. An attempt is also made to understand the distribution of HP polymorphism among the studied populations. The result reveals the HP gene to be polymorphic in all the studied populations. Except the two tribal populations (Thotis of Andhra Pradesh and Patelias of Rajasthan) and one caste population (Rajput of Himachal Pradesh), all the studied populations are found to obey the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The significance of the present study is elucidated with the prevalence of high mutant HP*2 allele frequency in India. Selection could be one of the most plausible explanations for this high HP frequency because of its uniformly high occurrence among all the studied populations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, Delhi, India
authors.forename: Huidrom Suraj
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Deepti
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Saksena
authors.forename: Sanjenbam Yaiphaba
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Meitei
authors.forename: Benrithung
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Murry
authors.forename: Prakash Ranjan
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Mondal
authors.forename: Mohinder Pal
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Sachdeva
authors.forename: Pradeep Kumar
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.forename: Kallur Nava
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Saraswathy
mesh_terms: D000885:Anthropology, Physical; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006242:Haptoglobins / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D010802:Phylogeny; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic
chemical_list: D006242:Haptoglobins