A sequence variation in the human cystatin D gene resulting in an amino acid (Cys/Arg) polymorphism at the protein level

A polymorphism in the coding region of the human cystatin D gene has been detected by direct sequencing of amplified DNA from different individuals. The variation, resulting from a T/C transition in exon 1 of the gene, causes an amino acid variation, Cys/Arg, at the protein level. An allele-specific oligonucleotide hybridization assay was developed and used to demonstrate this polymorphism in the population. The deduced frequencies were 0.55 and 0.45 for the Cys and Arg variant-encoding alleles, respectively.