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401855
REPOSITORY
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BNiv
RECORDS
MARSHALL
BOX No. MEQICAL DEPT.
FOLDER
FE /632 — 17/3
dm J Hum Genet 28:262~269, 1976
The Medical Research Center
Brookhaven National La!
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Upton, L. L, New York
ISLANDS
PUBLICATIONSThe Frequency of “Rare” Protein Variants in Marshall
Islanders and Other Micronesians
James V. Neer,’ Roperr E, FERRELL,’ anD RoBERT A. Conarn*
Recently, in connection with an ongoing medical study of Marshall Islanders who
were exposed to radioactive fallout in the Bikini incident [1], we had the oppor-
tunity to examine blood samples from these Islanders for the occurrence of poly-
morphisms and rare variants of serum proteins and erythrocyte enzymes. The
results, combined with the findings of others on Micronesians, suggest that there
may be a lower frequency of rare variants in this group than in Caucasians or
South American Indians. Because of the problems inherent in comparisons of
groups sampled in different wavs, the usual statistical contrasts were not possible.
THE POPULATION
The study population is composed of individuals from Ebeye, Rongelap, Utirik, and
Majuro Islands. Because they were often related, the number of independent genomes
in the sample was considerably less than the number of persons. Approximately half of the children in the sample were born to parents inadvertently radiated as a result of
fallout from a nuclear explosion at Bikini in 1954. However, the question of a radiation
effect did not arise in any substantial manner.
METHODS
Samples were collected in 12 mi vacutainers (Becton-Dickinson, Rutherford, N.J.)
containing ACD as anticoagulant on two different occasions, March-April 1974 and 1975.
The samples were shipped by air, on ice, from Kywajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands to
Honolulu, Hawaii for transshipment to Ann Arbor. Washed red blood cells and plasma
were stored at —70°.C prior to typing.
The 23 systems for which we performed typings are listed in table 1, together with
their standard abbreviations. Our conditions for electrophoresis and identification of the
types of ADA, AK,, ICDs, LDH, MDHg, PEPA, PEPB, PGM. 6PGD, PHI, Alb, Cp,
Hp, Hb A, Hb Ag, and Tf have been described previously [2]. Electrophoresis of PGM,
and TPI and staining of PGM, employed the method of Spencer et ail. [3]; staining for
TPI employed the positive staining method reported by Peters et al. [4]. ALD was deter-
minedby the method of Hopkinson et al. [5], CA, by the method of Tashian [6]. DPGM
by the method of Chen et al. [7], GALT by the method of Weitkamp [8], NP by the
method of Edwards et al. [9], and Alb by the methods of Weitkamp et al. [10] and
Tanis et al. [11]. Acid phosphatase (ACP) and group specific component (Gc) were determined as described previously [2].
Received October 21, 1974; revised December 1, 1975.
This work twas supported by the Energy Research and Development Agency.
1 Department of Human Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104.
2 Brookhaven National Laboratory, Associated Universities, Inc., Upton, New York 11973.
© 1976 by the American Society of Human Genetics. All rights reserved.
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