THE FREQUENCY IN JAPAN OF CARRIERS OF THE RARE “RECESSIVE” GENE CAUSING ACATALASEMIA

Abstract
A rapid and simple method for detection of hypocatalasemic heterozygotes for the gene responsible for acatalasemia is described. A total of 13, 647 blood specimens from individuals residing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki has been examined in this manner, and the frequency of hypocatalasemics was found to be 0.09 percent. Surveys in other parts of Japan have revealed frequencies of the order of 1.4 percent. This uneveness in the distribution of a rare recessive gene, taken in conjunction with the known variation from locality to locality in the frequency of inbreeding, has important implications for the interpretation of data on inbreeding effects. Some of these implications are discussed.