Two alleles detected for HLA-DZ alpha on the basis of a polymorphic restriction site in the third exon.

The restriction enzyme ApaI has been used to define Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) within the DZ alpha gene. Digestion of genomic DNA of 96 individuals with ApaI reveals the existence of two different patterns. Both homozygous and heterozygous individuals were detected. Hardy-Weinberg analysis indicates that DZ alpha is part of a di-allelic system with allele frequencies of 50%. DZ alpha polymorphism in the population studied does not correlate with serologically determined class I and HLA-DR, DQ and cellular DP typing data. A limited family study demonstrates that DZ alpha polymorphism segregates with HLA-class II phenotypes.