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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1975 Dec;72(12):5140–5144. doi: 10.1073/pnas.72.12.5140

Demonstration of non-functional beta-globin mRNA in homozygous beta (0) thalassemia.

Y W Kan, J P Holland, A M Dozy, H E Varmus
PMCID: PMC388892  PMID: 1061099

Abstract

In two Chinese patients with homozygous beta(0)-thalassemia, messenger RNAs from peripheral blood reticulocytes and the bone marrow failed to direct beta-chain synthesis in vivo and in vitro in a cell-free system. Molecular hybridization showed that the beta cDNA annealed to the RNAs at almost the same rate as the alpha and gamma cDNA. The beta cDNA-RNA hydrid formed efficiently and was thermally stable, whereas hybrids between gamma and beta sequences formed slowly and denatured at a significantly lower temperature. Thus, we conclude that the beta cDNA was annealing to beta-globin sequences in these two patients, and that nonfunctional beta-globin mRNA was present. Similar results were obtained in the reticulocyte RNA from an Italian patient with homozygous beta(0)-thalassemia.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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