New Human Haemoglobin Variant from Southern Arabia: G-Audhali (α23(B4) Glutamic Acid→Valine) and the Variability of B4 in Human Haemoglobin

Abstract

IN 1966–67 a survey for electrophoretically abnormal haemoglobin variants was carried out in southern Arabia. Samples of venous blood were collected from 2,130 Arabs and examined for sickling and signs of thalassaemia, and the haemoglobins were screened by electrophoresis on cellulose acetate¹. The subjects included 234 members of the Audhali tribe in whom three sickle cell trait carriers, five persons with β thalassaemia minor, and two with a similar haemoglobin variant were discovered; these two are the subject of this report. The variant moved on electrophoresis at alkaline pH behind haemoglobin A, but faster than haemoglobin S in the position of haemoglobin G. It amounted to 25 per cent of the total haemoglobin. It was found in two men from different Audhali villages, and there was no known blood relationship; it was not seen in any of the other fifteen tribes examined. One family study was possible, and in this case the variant was found in the father and one brother, but not in the mother of the propositus. In none of the four persons with this haemoglobin was anaemia found or any other abnormality of the blood.