ABO and Rh (D) Blood Groups Polymorphism in Four Tehsils of Bajaur Agency (Federally Administered Tribal Areas), Pakistan

Abstract

The tribal populations at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border are of great scientific interest because of their transitionary status which is due to the volatile law-and-order situation in this region from the last few decades. The present study aimed at elucidating the ABO and Rh blood groups polymorphisms in the Bajaur population, which is a war affected territory in the in north-western Pakistan. Blood groups data were obtained from 1,200 unrelated male subjects belonging to four tehsils of Bajaur Agency. Phenotyping was performed through forward typing. At the ABO locus, allele (O) was observed to be highly frequent (0.544), followed by alleles (B) and (A) with the frequencies of 0.231 and 0.225, respectively. At the Rh locus, allele frequencies for (D) and (d) were found to be 0.707 and 0.293, respectively. The total sample was in confirmity with the Hardy-Weinberg expectations. A comparison of allelic frequencies at both loci with neigboring populations through Nei's genetic distance D revealed that Bajaur sample had close affinities with Dir-Lower and Swat populations but least with Swabi and Peshawar populations. This study would be useful in the appreciating the genetic diversity of north-western populations of Pakistan.