DNA haplotypes and frameworks linked to the beta-globin locus in an Austro-Asiatic population with a high prevalence of hemoglobin E.

DNA haplotypes (HT) and frameworks (FW) linked to the beta-globin locus were determined by restriction fragment analysis using eight restriction enzymes on chromosomes bearing the Hb A gene (HBB*A) or the HbE gene (HBB*E) in the So, an Austro-Asiatic population of northeast Thailand with an HBB*E frequency near 0.5. All HBB*E genes were present with FW2, and only two haplotypes were observed (25 HT 27-2, -+- +-; 10 HT 41-2, +----++-). In a control group from the general population of Northeast Thailand the HT distribution was more diverse, and 2 of 20 HBB*E genes were present in FW 3. High frequencies of HBB*E in FW 3 in Southeast Asia are apparently limited to the Khmer population of Cambodia. There were no differences in the hematologic parameters in subjects homozygous for HBB*E/FW2 or HBB*E/FW3.