Presence of the Duffy Blood Group Gene Fy^b demonstrated in Melanesians

Abstract

THE Duffy (Fy) blood group discovered in 1950 was the eighth of the principal blood group systems to be identified. The first antigen found was called Fy^a and its corresponding antibody anti-Fy^a. The antithetical antigen Fy^b and its antibody anti-Fy^b was found in 1951. These antibodies occur as natural antibodies or as the result of immunization by blood transfusion or by pregnancy, and it is known that anti-Fy^a may cause haemolytic blood transfusion reactions and also haemolytic disease of the newborn. Two alleles, however, Fy^a and Fy^b, have not been sufficient to explain the Duffy reactions found in inheritance, and a third allele, Fy, occurring frequently in Negroes and occasionally in Caucasians, has been postulated although no anti-Fy antibody has been found. The distribution of both Fy^a and Fy^b in Caucasians and in Negroes has been thoroughly investigated, while Japanese and Koreans tested with only anti-Fy^a have been found to be almost 100 per cent anti-Fy^a positive¹⁹. During 1953–61 blood group research workers published findings on the distribution of the Duffy Fy^a blood group gene in the Pacific peoples, and these investigations have shown that, with the exception of the Polynesians¹, other Pacific peoples including Melanesians are, with few exceptions, 100 per cent Fy(a+), that is, all blood samples tested have reacted with anti-Fy^a testing reagent.