Scientists have made significant progress in understanding the Xga blood groups, it has been announced.
The scientists at Lund University, Sweden, have shed light on the genetics of the Xga system. They used a bioinformatic strategy to analyse and compare results from previous major studies, confirmed their findings in lab experiments.
This showed that a small variation close to the XG gene prevents the transcription factor GATA1 from binding to DNA.
This is why the Xg protein cannot be expressed in red blood cells in some individuals, they report.
In the journal Blood, the authors explain that this finding makes it possible to finally determine also the Xga blood type using genotyping.
"Now we are in the process of introducing it in the clinic and aim to find out what this exciting protein does and the consequences of the fact that so many of us don't have it," concludes researcher Professor Martin Olsson.
Source: Möller, M., Lee, Y.Q., Vidovic, K., Kjellström, S., Björkman, L., Storry, J.R. and Olsson, M.L., 2018. Disruption of a GATA1-binding motif upstream of XG/PBDX abolishes Xga expression and resolves the Xg blood group system. Blood, pp.blood-2018.
Link: http://www.bloodjournal.org/content/early/2018/05/10/blood-2018-03-842542
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