Genetic Control of Hemoglobin Synthesis

Detection and localization of an extra HLA locus in a karyotypically normal male by chromosomal in situ hybridization

The codominant expression of three HLA haplotypes was found in a healthy 21-year-old Black male, whose prometaphase karyotype was normal by light microscopy. He was the sibling of an antenatally diagnosed female fetus with a partial duplication of 6p. The duplication arose from a complex presumably balanced maternal chromosome rearrangement: 46,XX,dir ins(14;6)(14pter----14p11::6p22----6p21.1::14 p11----14qter; 6pter----6p22::6p21.1----6qter). Chromosomal in situ hybridization using a tritium-labeled genomic clone corresponding to a class I HLA gene revealed two sites of hybridization: at 6p21.3, the band to which this probe has been assigned in normal individuals (Morton et al. 1984a) and a second site at 6p11. We postulate that a recombinational event during meiotic pairing in the mother led to the reintroduction into the normal chromosome 6 homolog of a small segment of the original insertion in chromosome 14 which contained the HLA-A and -B determinants.

Giemsa banding pattern of a heritable 1q+ variant chromosome: a possible partial duplication

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Genetic determination of phenotypic variation in sickle cell trait

Two genetic sources of variation influence the percentage of sickle cell hemoglobin found in heterozygotes. One factor is strongly related to the percentage of hemoglobin S in the carrier parent and appears to be determined by sickle hemoglobin isoalleles, whereas the other is related to racial background and may well be polygenic.

Gene selection in hemoglobin and in antibody-synthesizing cells

Close linkage of mutually exclusive genes occurs in the non-alpha chain hemoglobin genes and in the immunoglobulin genes of man and other mammals. The expression of one gene in the cluster precludes the expression of any other linked gene. A simple, testable theory of gene selection called "looping-out excision"which was designed only to explain this mutual exclusivity in the hemoglobin system is described. The theory is closely concordant with a wide range of previously unexplained findings concerning hematopoiesis- including the developmental changes of hemoglobins, the increases in immature or fetal forms of hemoglobin that accompany anemia, and with the distribution of adult and fetal hemoglobins among erythrocytes during normal embryogenesis and in various pathological conditions. One corollary of this theory is that erythroid tissue in the normal adult bone marrow is constantly recapitulating the developmental stages of its embryogenesis. Another corollary is that the selection from among the linked globin genes occurs independently on the two chromosomes of the diploid organism. Both of these corollaries are supported by the available data. The same theory of gene selection is also remarkably consistent with known data for immunoglobulin synthesis; it could explain not only the mutually exclusive activation of linked variable genes but also the splicing which occurs between genetically linked variable and constant region genes for the immunoglobulin polypeptide chains. The agreement between these two different tissues is considered to be strong evidence that the proposed mechanism is correct at least in broad outline. Evidence from the genetics of maize and of drosophila also supports this theory of somatic tissue variegation. On the basis of these comparisons, I suggest that looping-out excision probably occurs also in other tissues and may be one means of gene selection and activation in differentiating cells.

Silent hemoglobin alpha genes in apes: potential source of thalassemia

Small quantities of unusual hemoglobins were found in 1 of 37 chimpanzees and 2 of 6 gorillas. In each genus these hemoglobins contain unique alpha chains that differ from the ordinary by eight to nine scattered amino acid changes. The unusual chains arise from a hitherto undetected hemoglobin (3)alpha locus. No (3)alpha products are found in most apes; accordingly, (3)alpha is considered synthetically inactive in all but a few reversion mutants. Indirect evidence that the inactive (3)alpha locus is juxtaposed to an active alpha locus together with the supposition that (3)alpha exists in man provides a setting wherein thalassemia might be produced by nonhomologous recombination between two loci.

Nature of fetal hemoglobin in the Greek type of hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin with and without concurrent beta-thalassemia

The fetal hemoglobin in the affected members of three Greek families with the hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin has only gamma-chains of the type with alanine in position 136. Although certain Negro families had been considered to have only this type of gamma-chains in their fetal hemoglobin, further studies required that they be reclassified. Consequently, the Greek cases are the sole examples of this class among the heterozygotes for the hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin. In Greek double heterozygotes for beta-thalassemia and the hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin, fetal hemoglobin is increased above the level of hemoglobin F in simple heterozygotes and gamma-chains with glycine in position 136 become apparent. In these individuals, gamma-chains with alanine in position 136 apparently derive from the chromosome for the hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin and are present in the hemoglobin F with gamma-chains of both types from the chromosome for beta-thalassemia. When these data are correlated with earlier knowledge of the genetic state of the Greek individuals, modifications of our previous ideas about deletions as the genetic basis of the hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin must be considered.

Lactic Dehydrogenase: Genetic Control in Mana

A genetically determined variant of lactic dehydrogenase has been observed in the red cells of four members of two generations of a Brazilian family. The appearance of the variant after starch-gel electrophoresis of the hemolysates supports the concept that the lactic dehydrogenase isozymes are determined by the interaction of two subunits which are under separate genetic control. The products of the mutant and normal allele do not, however, appear to associate randomly to form isozymes. The similarity of the relative retardation of normal and mutant isozymes in gels made with increasing concentrations of starch suggests that they do not differ significantly in size.