[FUT3 gene polymorphism associated with Lewis blood group in Chinese Zhejiang population].

To investigate the alpha-1, 3/4-fucosyltransferase gene (FUT3) polymorphism associated with Lewis blood group in Zhejiang population, the Lewis phenotypes of 183 random samples from Chinese blood donors in Zhejiang province were identified by standard serological techniques. The entire coding region of FUT3 gene were amplified by PCR from genomic DNA of 39 Lewis negative and 9 Lewis positive phenotype samples and sequenced directly. The haplotypes of FUT3 allele were identified by TOPO cloning sequencing method. The results showed that the frequency of true Le (a-b-) phenotype in Zhejiang population was 10.4% according to serological and molecular biological methods. Five nucleotide acid variant sites (59T > G, 202T > C, 314C > T, 508G > A and 1067T > A) were detected in all 48 sequencing samples. Besides the wild type Le allele, 2 common (le(59, 1067) and le(59, 508) and 3 rare non-functional le alleles (le(59), le(1067) and le(202, 314) were found in this population. In conclusion, the polymorphism of non-functional FUT3 allele was found to be relatively variable in Chinese Zhejiang population.