Sequence diversity of the Rh blood group system in Basques.

ABSTRACT: Basques show specific cultural, demographic, and genetic characteristics that have placed them as an isolated and unique population within Europe, such as their non-Indo-European language, Euskara. They have historically lived along the Western Pyrenees, between Spain and France, in one of the most important European glacial refugia during the Last Glacial Maximum. The most striking genetic characteristic is their highest frequency of the RhD blood group negative allele, a variant related to the hemolytic disease of the newborn. Both demographic and adaptive processes have been suggested as possible causes of the high frequency of RhD negative in Basques, but neither hypothesis has been clearly demonstrated. While previous studies on the Rh system in Basques have been mostly focused on ser

SUBMITTER: Flores-Bello A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6244411 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature