Apolipoprotein B 5’-Ins/Del and 3’-VNTR Polymorphisms in Chinese, Malay and Indian Singaporeans

Abstract

The allele frequencies for the apolipoprotein B (apo B) 5′-Ins/Del and 3′-VNTR polymorphisms varied significantly (p < 0.01) among Singaporeans of Chinese, Malay and Indian descent. We calculated the unbiased expected heterozygosities for the 5′-Ins/Del polymorphism as 0.3357, 0.1984 and 0.2418, and for the 3′-VNTR as 0.5980, 0.5260 and 0.6749, respectively, in the Chinese, Malays and Indians. Compared to heterozygosities reported for other populations, the Singaporeans differed from most Caucasians in having significantly lower values but were closely related to other non-Caucasians. Thirteen alleles, with a bimodal distribution, were observed at the 3′-VNTR polymorphic locus; the alleles occurring most frequently among the Chinese and Malays were of 35 or 53 repeats, and among the Indians, of 37 or 47 repeats. The Del allele was associated with elevated serum cholesterol (p = 0.023), LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) (p = 0.001) in the Chinese, and apo B (p = 0.007) in the Indians. Likewise, the larger 3′-VNTR alleles (> 41 repeats) were associated with raised cholesterol (p = 0.018), LDL-C (p = 0.025), and triglyceride (p = 0.001) in the Chinese. The two polymorphisms were not in significant linkage disequilibrium (D = –0.0029, p = 0.494) in the three ethnic groups.

5′ ins/del and 3′ VNTR polymorphisms in the apolipoprotein B gene in relation to lipids and coronary artery disease

“…This highly polymorphic locus is located approximately 0.5 kb on the 39-side of the last amino acid codon in the APOB gene (2,3). This highly polymorphic locus is located approximately 0.5 kb on the 39-side of the last amino acid codon in the APOB gene (2,3).…”

Variability of the 3′ApoB Minisatellite Locus in Eastern Slavonic Populations

“…Previous studies demonstrated that Asian populations have allele 34 at the highest frequency, whereas allele 36 is most common among Indo-European speaking populations [5,8,9] . Both Bashkir and Komi populations from the south Ural had ap- proximately equal frequencies of alleles 34 and 36, and this is in line with anthropological evidence of an Asian admixture among these ethnic groups [29] .…”

“…The 3 ApoB structure shows tandemly repeated sequences that are 14-16 nu-cleotide pairs long and rich in A and T; alleles usually differ from each other by 30 nucleotide pairs or by two repeats [4] . Allele frequencies of this locus vary between populations and have been widely used in investigations of the population history and diversity of humans [4][5][6][7][8][9] .…”

Insights from human congenital disorders of intestinal lipid metabolism

“…Hopefully, new nutritional and genetic developments will offer opportunities in the near future to develop strategies to target the intestine in order to enhance fat absorption in congenital malabsorptions on the one hand, and reduce postprandial lipemia and prevent atherosclerosis on the other hand. Numerous polymorphisms of the Apo B gene have been described with an effect of the insertion (ins)/deletion (del) polymorphisms on lipid levels (257)(258)(259), and the kinetics of the secretion of VLDLs has already been found ( 260 ). It is noteworthy that the XbaI polymorphism was related to the inter-individual variability observed during postprandial lipemia, showing a signifi cantly augmented or reduced postprandial response ( 261,262 ).…”