“…Although a variable degree of hydrolysis of the fluorescent ester is also brought about by the esterases A, B and C, the hydrolytic activity of esterase D and carbonic anhydrase I in red cells is greater and virtually specific to the four methyl umbelliferone esters. Initially, for the detection of the esterase D polymorphism several studies employed starch gel electro phoresis, but equally reproducible results of the esterase D pattern have been obtained using other supporting media such as cellulose acetate and agarose [4,10].Using these electrophoretic techniques three common phenotypes (Es D-l, Es D2-I and Es D-2) have been described, controlled by alleles Es Z)1 and Es Dat a single locus, and the regularity of their inheritance has been well estab lished [3,8,23], In some populations, in addition to these two common autosomal alleles, two rare alleles Es D3 and Es D' have also been described [1,
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