@article{3050512, title = "The Cretan type of non-deletional hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin [A gamma-158C -> T] results from two independent gene conversion events", author = "Patrinos, GP and Kollia, P and Loutradi-Anagnostou, A and Loukopoulos, D and and Papadakis, MN", journal = "Human Genetics", year = "1998", volume = "102", number = "6", pages = "629-634", publisher = "Springer-Verlag", issn = "0340-6717, 1432-1203", doi = "10.1007/s004390050753", abstract = "We report a new type of non-deletional hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin that is due to a C –> T transition at position -158, relative to the Cap site of the human A gamma-globin gene. This mutation was identified in three unrelated adult cases presenting slightly elevated levels of fetal hemoglobin (Hb F), i.e. 2.9-5.1%, and normal hematological indices. Our sequencing results, from both polymerase chain reaction-amplified and subcloned DNA fragments, indicate that the A gamma - 158C –> T mutation occurred by two independent gene conversion events in the three cases studied. In addition, hematological and molecular data, including restriction fragment length polymorphism haplotyping in the beta-globin gene cluster, extended haplotype analysis inside the gamma-globin gene region and routine analysis of three tandem repeat loci (D1S80, 3’-HVR/apoB and F8vWf), led us to conclude that the A gamma - 158C –> T mutation in one of the three cases occurred recently in the parental germ line (P=99.47%), representing the first example of a de novo gene conversion event identified in humans." }