Isoelectric focusing of red cell phosphoglucomutase (E.C.:2.7.5.1) at the PGM1 locus in a French-Canadian population

Abstract

Phosphoglucomutase₁ (PGM₁) polymorphism was studied in a French-Canadian population of Québec city, Canada by means of a low voltage (max 500 V) isoelectric focusing (IEF) procedure on vertical polyacrylamide gel slabs. Frequencies of the four common PGM₁ genes estimated from the phenotype distribution in 308 unrelated individuals were PGM ₁ ¹⁺ , 0.61 (±0.02); PGM ₁ ^1- , 0.13 (±0.01); PGM ₁ ¹⁺ , 0.61 (±0.02); PGM ₁ ^1- , 0.18 (±0.02); and PGM ₁ ¹⁺ , 0.61 (±0.02); PGM ₁ ^1- , 0.08 (±0.01). The segregation patterns observed in 154 families, which included 31 different mating types and 353 children, confirmed a Mendelian inheritance of four autosomal genes. The distribution of the PGM₁ phenotypes observed or expected in a Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was compared with that of other populations. A significant (P<0.001) difference was found between the Québec population and a Black population from Keneba, Gambia, West-Africa.