The mRNA for the Duffy blood group antigen, the erythrocyte receptor for the Plasmodium vivax malaria parasite, has recently been cloned and shown to encode a widely expressed chemokine receptor. Here, we show that the Duffy antigen/chemokine receptor gene (DARC) is composed of a single exon and that most Duffy-negative blacks carry a silent FY*B allele with a single T to C substitution at nucleotide -46. This mutation impairs the promoter activity in erythroid cells by disrupting a binding site for the GATA1 erythroid transcription factor. With the recent characterization of the FY*A and FY*B alleles, these findings provide the molecular basis of the Duffy blood group system and an explanation for the erythroid-specific repression of the DARC gene in Duffy-negative individuals.

The RH (rhesus) blood group locus from RhD-positive donors is composed of two homologous structural genes, one of which encodes the Cc and Ee polypeptides, whereas the other, which is missing in the RhD-negative condition, encodes the D protein that carries the major antigen of the RH system. Recently, different splicing isoforms transcribed from the CcEe gene were isolated. We report now the characterization of two other Rh clones, RhII and RhXIII, generated by alternative choices for poly(A) addition sites that were identified as the RhD gene transcripts. That these cDNAs represented the RhD messenger and that the previously described Rh clones were derived from the CcEe gene was demonstrated by amplification of RhII/XIII sequences only from D-positive genomes and by cloning and sequencing of D- and CcEe-specific gene fragments. The predicted translation product of the RhD mRNA is a 417-amino acid protein (M(r) = 45,500) that exhibited a similar membrane organization with 13 bilayer-spanning domains compared with the polypeptide encoded by the CcEe gene. The D and Cc/Ee polypeptides differ by 36 amino acid substitutions (8.4% divergence), but the NH2- and COOH-terminal regions of the two proteins are well conserved. Similarly, five of the six cysteine residues of the Cc/Ee proteins were conserved in the D protein, including the unique exofacial cysteine, which is critical for antigenic reactivity. The sequence homology between the Cc/Ee and D proteins supports the concept that the genes encoding these polypeptides have evolved by duplication of a common ancestor gene.

cDNA clones encoding a human blood group Rh polypeptide were isolated from a human bone marrow cDNA library by using a polymerase chain reaction-amplified DNA fragment encoding the known common N-terminal region of the Rh proteins. The entire primary structure of the Rh polypeptide has been deduced from the nucleotide sequence of a 1384-base-pair-long cDNA clone. Translation of the open reading frame indicates that the Rh protein is composed of 417 amino acids, including the initiator methionine, which is removed in the mature protein, lacks a cleavable N-terminal sequence, and has no consensus site for potential Nglycosylation. The predicted molecular mass of the protein is 45,500, while that estimated for the Rh protein analyzed in NaDodSO4/polyacrylamide gels is in the range of 30,000-32,000. These findings suggest either that the hydrophobic Rh protein behaves abnormally on NaDodSO4 gels or that the Rh mRNA may encode a precursor protein, which is further matured by a proteolytic cleavage of the C-terminal region of the polypeptide. Hydropathy analysis and secondary structure predictions suggest the presence of 13 membrane-spanning domains, indicating that the Rh polypeptide is highly hydrophobic and deeply buried within the phospholipid bilayer. In RNA blot-hybridization (Northern) analysis, the Rh cDNA probe detects a major 1.7-kilobase and a minor 3.5-kilobase mRNA species in adult erythroblasts, fetal liver, and erythroid (K562, HEL) and megakaryocytic (MEG01) leukemic cell lines, but not in adult liver and kidney tissues or lymphoid (Jurkat) and promyelocytic (HL60) cell lines. These results suggest that the expression of the Rh gene(s) might be restricted to tissues or cell lines expressing erythroid characters.