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Phosphoglucomutase proteins in human milk
Katia Kvitko; Tania de Azevedo Weimer
Departamento de Genética, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Caixa Postal 1953, 90001 Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. Send correspondence to T.A.W.
ABSTRACT
Phosphoglucomutase polymorphism observed at the PGM 4 locus was investigated in 652 colostrum samples (collected 24-48 hs. post partum) in Porto Alegre, Brazil. From 175 of these women, milk samples were also obtained at about 17 days of lactation. In colostrum a great deviation from Hardy-Weinberg expectations was found, with an excess of homozygotes and deficit of heterozygotes. In milk, on the other hand, the phenotype distributions were in accordance with the Hardy-Weinberg law. The differences between the two distributions are due to the computation, in the second analysis, of samples without enzyme activity in colostrum, as well as a possible variability in enzyme activation which may occur in the post partum period. The gene frequencies observed in milk (n = 175) were: Whites (n = 127) PGM4*1 = 0.20, PGM4*2 = 0.41, PGM4*3 = 0.38 and PGM4*4 = 0.01; Blacks (N = 48), PGM4*1 = 0.15, PGM4*2 = 0.52, PGM4*3 = 0.32 and PGM4*4 = 0.01.
Keywords: Phosphoglucomutase; Human milk.
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