Histo-blood group ABO system transferase is an enzyme

Enzyme

Enzymes are proteins that catalyze chemical reactions. In enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process, called substrates, are converted into different molecules, called products. Almost all chemical reactions in a biological cell need enzymes in order to occur at rates...

 that in humans is encoded by the ABO gene

Gene

A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...

.

It determines the ABO blood group

ABO blood group system

The ABO blood group system is the most important blood type system in human blood transfusion. The associated anti-A antibodies and anti-B antibodies are usually IgM antibodies, which are usually produced in the first years of life by sensitization to environmental substances such as food,...

 of an individual.

Function

This gene encodes proteins related to the first discovered blood group system, ABO. Which allele is present in an individual determines the blood group. The 'O' blood group is caused by a deletion of guanine-258 near the N-terminus of the protein which results in a frameshift and translation of an almost entirely different protein. Individuals with the A, B, and AB alleles express glycosyltransferase activities that convert the H antigen into the A or B antigen. Other minor alleles have been found for this gene.

Common alleles

There are six common allele

Allele

An allele is one of two or more forms of a gene or a genetic locus . "Allel" is an abbreviation of allelomorph. Sometimes, different alleles can result in different observable phenotypic traits, such as different pigmentation...

s in white individuals of the ABO gene that produce one's blood type:

• A
  • A101 (A1)
  • A201 (A2)
• B
  • B101 (B1)
• O
  • O01 (O1)
  • O02 (O1v)
  • O03 (O2)

Many rare variants of these alleles have been found in human populations around the world.

Further reading