Frequency Distribution of Alleles at D1S80 and Apo-B 3’ VNTR Loci in Korean Population

We have determined the allele frequencies for two hypervariable DNA loci D1S80 and apo- B 3’ in Korean population. Each allele was resolveó discretely on the basis of their repeat number by using the PCR followed by PAGE and silver-staining. For the D1S80 locus, a total of 19 alleles and 43 genotypes were detected in 78 unrelated Koreans, and for the apo- B 3’ variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) locus, 9 alleles and 13 genotypes in 74 unrelated Koreans. Heterozygosities for these loci were estimated to be 0.82 and 0.54, respectively. A fairly consistent bimodal pattern of allele frequency distribution was observed for D1S80 locus whilst unimodal for the apo-B 3’ VNTR locus. The results suggest that the range of DNA fragment sizes in the Koreans for two loci are different to those of Caucasians, but same to that of Kachari population belong to Mongoloid. Also, the distinguishing feature between Korean and the other populations for these loci was the relative frequency of a particular set of alleles. The result of the population homogeneity test showed that Korean population conformed to the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for both two loci. In addition, statistical weight from these results showed that both two loci could be useful in further studies such as personal identification in forensic science.