ALTERED AGGREGATIONAL PROPERTIES IN A GENETIC VARIANT OF HUMAN GLUCOSE 6-PHOSPHATE DEHYDROGENASE

The Tel Hashomer variant of human G6PD migrates as two prominent components during electrophoresis in several gel systems in which red cell G6PD from other males migrates predominantly as a single band. Since human males normally have but one X-chromosome, the extra band of this variant seemed an exception to earlier biochemical and genetic observations suggesting that human red cell G6PD is determined by a locus on the X chromosome. Results of the present studies indicate that the Tel Hashomer variant is unusually susceptible to the formation of a complex which has a higher molecular weight than normal G6PD and which represents the slow electrophoretic component. The conditions of formation and disruption of this complex in crude and purified Tel Hashomer preparations suggest that it results from the formation of disulfide bridges between molecules of Tel Hashomer G6PD. © 1969 Plenum Publishing Corporation.