Beta-globin-gene haplotypes, mitochondrial DNA, the Y-chromosome: their impact on the genetic epidemiology of the major structural hemoglobinopathies.

The history of the discovery of the globin beta-like globin-gene haplotypes and their importance in the understanding of hemoglobinopathies has been reviewed recently. We will add in this review more recent findings and other molecular genetic tools that can help in the understanding of the genetic epidemiology of structural hemoglobinopathies, leaving the thalassemias for a later effort.