Assay of thalassaemic messenger RNA in the wheat germ system.

Messenger RNA(mRNA) has been prepared from reticulocytes obtained from patients with different types of thalassaemia and assayed in the wheat germ system. Since normal human reticulocyte mRNA directs the synthesis of equal numbers of alpha- and beta-globin chains in this system it offers a rapid and simple technique for assaying mRNA in the thalassaemic disorders. In mRNA from beta+ thalassaemics the deficiency of beta-globin synthesis mirrored that observed in intact reticulocytes while that prepared from patients wiht haemoglobin H disease gave alpha/beta globin chain production ratios which showed consistently greater imbalance than was found in reticulocytes. Messenger RNA prepared from haemoglobin E-beta0 thalassaemics from Thailand directed no detectable beta-chain synthesis while that prepared from a betaO thalassaemic from Ferrara synthesized a fraction with the chromatographic characteristics of beta-globin chains.