Population study of electrophoretic polymorphisms of red cell enzymes and plasma proteins in Caucasian Canadians

Abstract

Blood samples from a random series of Canadian Caucasians were phenotyped for 28 red cell enzyme systems and eight plasma protein systems. Polymorphism was found in 17 and rare variants in 11 of the systems. Allele frequencies are presented for these; distribution of phenotypes is in accordance with the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium theory. In a complementary study of families there was no evidence of de novo mutation in any of the 36 systems and they allowed a minimum estimate of the frequency of null alleles in the ADA, C2, and GPT systems. Key words: polymorphism, red cell enzyme, plasma protein, phenotype, allele frequency, population.