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Document Type

Article

Abstract

The high prevalence of lactase persistence (LP) among the people of Saudi Arabia is associated with the -13915G variant allele upstream of the lactase gene (LCT). We, therefore, examined the frequency of the commonly known LP associated SNPs among randomly collected samples from Omani and Yemeni adult populations and obtained further data on the distribution of the two most common LP-associated variants, -13910T and -13915TG, in the Arabian Peninsula. The DNA fragment containing all the reported LP- associated SNPs was amplified and genotyped. The frequency of the -13915G allele was highest among Dhofari Arabs of southern Oman (0.72) followed by Yemeni Arabs (0.54) and Arabs of northern Oman (0.14). It was not detected in Omanis of Asian origin. The frequency of the -13910T allele was extremely low in Arabs of northern and southern Oman (0.00 - 0.01) and Yemenis (0.002). However, it had a frequency of 0.160 among Omanis of Asian origin. Results show that the highest frequency of the LCT -13915G variant allele appears to be in the south of the Arabian Peninsula with clinal decrease within the Peninsula and further out in surrounding countries.

Erratum

In the printed version of the article, figure 1 ("The interpolation map of frequency distribution of the lactase persistence associated allele - 13915*G in the Arabian Peninsula and surrounding countries.") was incorrectly reproduced in black and white. With apologies to the authors and readers, we are reprinting the full article with the original figure now in color.

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