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Single-cell variations in the expression of codominant alleles A and B on RBC of AB blood group individuals

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Abstract

A key question in biology is whether all cells of a given ‘cell type’ within an individual have more or less the same phenotype, especially in relation to nonimprinted autosomal loci. Some studies have shown differential allelic expression of autosomal genes to confer phenotypic variability at the individual cell level. Here, we report the amount of A and B histo-blood group antigens, products of classic examples of codominant alleles, in individual red blood cells (RBCs). Using immunofluorescence with Cy3-tagged and FITC-tagged antibodies, we quantified the levels of these antigens in 2512 RBCs from 24 individuals in the AB blood group. When these data were fit to a normal distribution, we could detect four groups: showing normal distribution for both antigens, either antigen, and neither antigen. Surprisingly, very few samples showed a significant positive correlation between the amounts of A and B antigens on individual RBC; in fact, the ratio of antigen A to antigen B in the entire set of samples spanned over five orders of magnitude. This variability in the amount of antigens A and/or B, combined with a lack of correlation between the amounts of these two antigens, resulted in unique staining patterns of RBC, generating widespread mosaicism in the RBC population of AB blood group individuals.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr R. Sarkar for help with statistics, Ms. R. Nandini for technical help with microscopy and CSIR for financial assistance to RAJ and AB. This project was supported by intramural funding from CSIR to RAJ.

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Author notes

  1. ANJALI BAJPAI

    Present address: Mehta Family Centre for Engineering in Medicine and Department Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, 208 016, India

  2. RACHEL A. JESUDASAN

    Present address: Inter-University Center for Genomics and Gene Technology (IUCGGT), University of Kerala, Kariyavattom Campus, Thiruvananthapuram, 695 581, India

  3. RACHEL A. JESUDASAN

    Present address: Department of Genetics, Osmania University, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500 007, India

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Habsiguda, Hyderabad, 500 007, India

    ANJALI BAJPAI, BADANAPURAM SRIDEVI, PATHMA MUTHUKOTTIAPPAN & RACHEL A. JESUDASAN

  2. Bhavan’s Vivekananda College, Sainikpuri, Secunderabad, 500 094, India

    VIDYA JONNALAGADDA

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  1. ANJALI BAJPAI
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  2. VIDYA JONNALAGADDA
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  4. PATHMA MUTHUKOTTIAPPAN
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Contributions

RAJ, conceived and designed the experiments; AB, BS & PM, performed the experiments; RAJ, AB and VJ, analyzed the data; RAJ and VJ, wrote the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to RACHEL A. JESUDASAN.

Additional information

Corresponding editor: B. K. Thelma

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BAJPAI, A., JONNALAGADDA, V., SRIDEVI, B. et al. Single-cell variations in the expression of codominant alleles A and B on RBC of AB blood group individuals. J Genet 101, 36 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12041-022-01376-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12041-022-01376-9

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