Mutation and the Rhesus Reaction

Abstract

IN his interesting letter¹ on genetics of the Rh antigen in man, Prof. L. T. Hogben advances two hypotheses. The first is that the frequency of the rh gene, determining the absence of the antigen, is approximately constant from one generation to another in human populations. The second is that this constancy is due to the formation of new rh genes by mutation, at a rate which replaces those eliminated by the deaths of heterozygotes from erythroblastosis fœtalis. Thus such populations as those of England and the United States are thought to be in equilibrium.