title: Allelic variance amongABOblood group genotypes in a population from the western region of Saudi Arabia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Characterization of the ABO blood group at the phenotype and genotype levels is clinically essential for transfusion, forensics, and population studies. This study elucidated ABO phenotypes and genotypes, and performed an evaluation of their distribution in individuals from the western region of Saudi Arabia.
  
  
  METHODS
  One-hundred and seven samples underwent standard serological techniques for ABO blood group phenotype analysis.ABOalleles and genotypes were identified using multiplex polymerase chain reaction, and electrophoretic analysis was performed to evaluate the highly polymorphicABOlocus.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A phenotype distribution of 37.4%, 30.8%, 24.3%, and 7.5% was found for blood groups O, A, B, and AB respectively in our study cohort. Genotype analysis identified 10 genotype combinations with theO01/O02andA102/O02genotypes being the most frequent with frequencies of 33.6% and 14.95%, respectively. Common genotypes such asA101/A101,A101/A102,A101/B101,B101/B101, andO01/O01were not detected. Similarly, the rare genotypes,cis-AB01/O02,cis-AB01/O01, andcis-AB01/A102were not found in our cohort. The most frequently observed allele was O02 (35.98%) followed by theA102allele (17.76%). Furthermore, our findings are discussed in reference toABOallele and genotype frequencies found in other ethnic groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study has a significant implication on the management of blood bank and transfusion services in Saudi Arabian patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Abdularahman B O
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Mohamed
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Department of Hematology, King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Salwa Ibrahim
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Hindawi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Sameer
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Al-Harthi
authors.affiliation: King Fahd Medical Research, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Qamre
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Alam
authors.affiliation: King Fahd Medical Research, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Mohammad Zubair
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Alam
authors.affiliation: King Fahd Medical Research, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Absarul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haque
authors.affiliation: Center of Excellence in Genomic Medicine, KFMRC, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Waseem
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Department of Hematology, King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.; King Fahd Medical Research, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Ghazi A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Damanhouri
keywords: ABO blood-group system; Alleles; Genotype; Saudi Arabia