Population Distribution of the Methionine Allele at the PRNP Codon 129 Polymorphism in Europe and the Middle East

Document Type

Article

Authors

Géraldine Mercier, Institute of Molecular Anthropology
Florent Diéterlen, Institute of Molecular Anthropology
Gérard Lucotte, Institute of Molecular AnthropologyFollow

Abstract

Methionine homozygosity at codon 129 of the prion protein gene is a risk factor for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Knowledge of M129V polymorphism in normal populations may contribute to a better understanding of prion diseases. M129V polymorphism was studied in 2,201 normal subjects, originating from 15 populations from Europe and the Middle East. Mean heterozygosity in these populations is 38.9%, and there is some significant geographic heterogeneity between them. A comparison of M129 allele frequencies in these 15 populations to those already published for 8 European countries plus Turkey shows significant correlations with both latitude (r = −0.77) and longitude (r = 0.69). The geographic map of methionine allele frequencies indicates an east-west gradient of decreasing methionine allele values from the Middle East to Western Europe.

Recommended Citation

Mercier, Géraldine; Diéterlen, Florent; and Lucotte, Gérard (2008) "Population Distribution of the Methionine Allele at the PRNP Codon 129 Polymorphism in Europe and the Middle East," Human Biology: Vol. 80: Iss. 2, Article 5.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol80/iss2/5