Analysis of G6PD enzyme deficiency in Saudi population

Abstract

The evolutionary conservation of a housekeeping gene such as G6PD is greater than that of tissue-specific genes, presumably because the latter may require more specific adaptation to the physiology of individual organisms. The abundance of distinct mutation sites and their clinical manifestations make G6PD ideal for structure-function analysis. Therefore, it is of interest to screen of G6PD deficiency in the blood donors in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We report the mean and variation of enzyme activity in a huge set of Suadi to non-Saudi population with reference to the entire population. The sequence level conservation of G6PD among distant species is demonstrated using phylogenetic trees. These observations have implications in the sequence-structure-function understanding of G6PD with reference to its association to several human diseases.