SELECTION FOR THE -THALASSEMIA GENES

Shozo Yokoyama ¹

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine and Jewish Hospital of St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63110

Extremely high incidences of single and double deletions of -globin genes are known among Asian populations. To study possible mechanisms for the maintenance of such deletions, mathematical analyses have been conducted. It has been shown that a stable polymorphism can be achieved easily through heterozygote advantage using deterministic models. The results strongly suggest that high incidences of single and double deletion of -globin genes among Asian populations are maintained by some type of heterozygote advantage.