A NOVEL β⁰-THALASSEMIA MUTATION AT CODON 55 (−A) AND A RARE 17 bp DELETION AT CODONS 126–131 IN THE INDIAN POPULATION

Abstract

A new mutation at codon 55 (−A) and a rare mutation, a 17 bp deletion at codons 126–131, that gives rise to β⁰-thalassemia, were found in the Indian population by means of direct sequencing of two polymerase chain reaction products generated from a 2.3 kb DNA fragment containing the whole β-globin gene. Each polymerase chain reaction product was sequenced on both strands in a mutation-loading format, showing all nucleotide substitutions or deletions/insertions, including mutations and polymorphisms, in the product. The entire protocol requires four sequencing reactions/gel loadings after two successive polymerase chain reactions, which simplifies the mutation search process and reduces the reading error rate.