Abstract
A variant of fetal hemoglobin (Hb F-Malta-I) has been detected and quantitated in adult blood with a sensitive radioimmunoassay employing monospecific anti-sera. The concentration of Hb F-Malta-I was 0.002–0.05%, with an average value of 0.011%. The ratio of Hb F-Malta-I/Hb F in adults was about 4.8%, compared to a ratio of about 27% in the newborn. Since the F-Malta-I variant is a product of a mutated Gγ locus, which is one of the nonallelic structural genes directing the γ chain synthesis, its presence in blood of adults shows that the synthesis of this gene is not completely suppressed after birth, as was previously suggested.
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This study was supported in part by U.S. Public Health Research Grants HL-05168 and HL-15158.
On leave from Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey.
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Altay, G., Garver, F., Bannister, W.H. et al. Detection and quantitation of the fetal hemoglobin variant Hb F-Malta-I in adults. Biochem Genet 15, 915–923 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00483988
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00483988