Ethnic differences in allelic frequencies of two (CA)n microsatellite markers located on chromosome 5q

The characteristics of allelic polymorphisms of the two (CA)n microsatellite (p599 and λ599) markers spanning the long arm of chromosome 5 were studied in 52 DNA samples from unrelated inhabitants of Seoul (Korea) by using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to investigate differences in allele frequencies between Korean and Caucasian populations. The 6 alleles were observed for p599 (CA)n with a polymorphism informative content (PIC) value of 0.71 and 9 alleles for λ599 (CA)n with a PIC value of 0.82. The observed heterozygote frequencies of the loci were estimated to 0.730 and 0.846, respectively. Several allele frequencies of two loci showed significant differences between Korean and Caucasian populations. Genotype data from the two loci were consistent with the Hardy‐Weinberg equilibrium by χ2 test. Linkage disequilibrium between p599 (CA)n and λ599 (CA)n loci was observed in χ 2 test between the observed and expected frequency of allelic association. The probability of matching calculated at each loc...