Human serum, the fluid portion of the blood that remains after clotting, contains various proteins that have been shown to be under genetic control. Study of genetic influences has flourished since the development of precise methods for separating and identifying serum proteins. These move at different rates under the impetus of an electrical field (electrophoresis), as do proteins from many other sources (e.g., muscle or nerve). Since the composition of a protein is specified by the structure of its corresponding gene, biochemical studies based on electrophoresis permit direct study of tissue substances that are only a metabolic step or two away from the genes themselves.
Electrophoretic studies have revealed that at least one-third of the human serum proteins occur in variant forms. Many of the serum proteins are polymorphic, occurring as two or more variants with a frequency of not less than 1 percent each in a population. Patterns of polymorphic serum protein variants have been used to determine whether twins are identical (as in assessing compatibility for organ transplants) or whether two individuals are related (as in resolving paternity suits). Whether or not the different forms have a selective advantage is not generally known.
Much attention in the genetics of substances in the blood has been centred on serum proteins called haptoglobins, transferrins (which transport iron), and gamma globulins (a number of which are known to immunize against infectious diseases). Haptoglobins appear to relate to two common alleles at a single chromosome locus; the mode of inheritance of the other two seems more complicated, about 18 kinds of transferrins having been described. Like blood-cell antigen genes, serum-protein genes are distributed worldwide in the human population in a way that permits their use in tracing the origin and migration of different groups of people.
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