Quantitative Differences and Gene Dosage in the Human Red Cell Acid Phosphatase Polymorphism

Abstract

IT has been shown that inherited differences in human red cell acid phosphatase can be demonstrated by starch-gel electrophoresis¹. So far, five distinct phenotypes (referred to as A, BA, B, CA and CB) have been identified, and family studies suggest that they are determined by three allelic genes (P^a, P^b and P^c). The relation between the observed phenotypes and the postulated genotypes is indicated in Table 1, and the frequencies with which the various phenotypes have been observed in a random sample of English adults are also given. The phenotype corresponding to the postulated genotype P^cP^c has not yet been identified. Theory suggests that this genotype would be rather uncommon (perhaps 1 in 600 of the population).