Comparative Study between Greeks and Albanians with the Use of Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms of Apolipoprotein B Gene

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the genetic polymorphisms of apolipoprotein B gene between two different populations, Greeks and Albanians living in Greece and to investigate the possibility of discriminating the two populations by using these polymorphisms. Methodology: Restriction fragment length polymorphisms at codons 2488 (XbaI) and 4154 (EcoRI) of the apolipoprotein B gene were investigated in the above populations, in order to determine if there are differences between them. Two specific DNA regions, each containing the polymorphic site, were amplified by polymerase chain reaction. The products were digested and electrophoresis on 2% agarose gel was followed. A total number of 160 unrelated individuals from each population were randomly collected. Results: The allelic frequencies of the samples from Greeks and Albanians showed variability patterns for the XbaI and EcoRI Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms. For Greeks and Albanians the presence of E+/+ genotype was almost the same (67.5% and 70.6% respectively), without statistical significant differences and the E-/- genotype showed low common presence (6.3% and 2.5% respectively). The presence of X-/- genotype had almost the same ratio for the two populations (48.1% for Greeks and 39.4% for Albanians) and the presence of X+/+ genotype was low enough for both of them. Conclusion: The study of the two populations (Greeks and Albanians) did not show any statistically significant differences concerning the frequency of the genotypes of XbaI and EcoRI polymorphisms of the APOB gene.