Variation in coding exons of two electrophoretic alleles at the pigtail macaque carbonic anhydrase I locus as determined by direct,double-stranded sequencing of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products

Two, electrophoretically distinct, forms of carbonic anhydrase I (CA Ia and CA Ib) are found at high polymorphic frequencies in red cells of natural populations of pigtail macaques,Macaca nemestrina, from southeast Asia. By use of the polymerase chain reaction, exons of the CA I gene were amplified from homozygous (a/a, b/b) and heterozygous (a/b) animals. Direct sequencing of the amplified DNA from four animals revealed differences between the a and the b electrophoretic alleles ranging from three to six nucleotides, and from one to three differences within each allele. These results indicate a greater genetic variability at the CA I locus in this macaque species than previously realized. We thank the personnel of the University of Washington, Regional Primate Research Center, Seattle, for sending us blood and tissue samples from pigtail macaques (supported by NIH Grant RR 00166). Our work was supported by NIH Grant GM 24681.