Abstract
THE preponderance of haemoglobin A over haemoglobin S in sickle-cell trait was observed in the course of our initial studies on the haemoglobin of sickling cells1. Later work carried out in collaboration with other laboratories showed that the ratio of these haemoglobins is inherited2 and that simultaneous presence of a gene for an abnormal haemoglobin and a gene for thalassaemia results in partial or complete suppression of synthesis3,4 of haemoglobin A. An exceptional case in which presence of a thalassaemia gene did not alter the proportion of haemoglobins A and C in haemoglobin C trait was observed elsewhere5. These findings formed the basic evidence on which we proposed the following concepts about the inheritance of haemoglobin: (1) alleles may be present that control the synthesis of haemoglobin A at different rates6; (2) there may exist more than one locus for thalassaemia7; (3) in some cases thalasssaemia and abnormal haemoglobins may be controlled at the same locus8; (4) a structurally abnormal but electrophoretically normal haemoglobin may be synthesized at sub-normal rate in thalassaemia8,9.
Published Version
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