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August 17-18, 2017 | Toronto, Canada
ANNUAL BIOTECHNOLOGY CONGRESS
Ann Biol Sci, 2017
ISSN: 2348-1927
M
olecular biology has become an integral figure in the
modern medicine, making DNA analyses as essential
tools in the diagnosis, prognosis and management of
diseases. Factor V Leiden (FVL) is the name of the most
common genetic mutation which is associated with venous
thrombosis, a disease that has high morbidity and mortality
rates. Earlier studies on FVL found it in Europeans only,
bringing speculations that FVL had occurred as a single
event in the far past, in a single European ancestor who fixed
the mutation in the current European carriers. However,
our later research in Kuwait proved the presence of FVL
in different non-European populations living in Kuwait.
Does this mean these were originally from Europe? In this
research, we showed how molecular techniques were used
to explore the origin of FVL in different populations living in
Kuwait. Was it the same European ancestor, or a separate
one? A total of 512 healthy individuals were recruited from
different populations (non-European) living in Kuwait: 360
Arabs (Kuwaitis, Lebanese, Syrians, Jordanians, Saudis,
Iraqis, Palestinians, and Yemenites), 102 Armenians and 50
Afghans. A blood sample was collected from each case which
was used for DNA extraction. Real-time PCR was performed
on the DNA samples to test for the presence of FVL. In the
positive cases for FVL, real-time PCR was performed to
explore 9 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the
Factor V gene; these SNPs were previously reported to be
associated with FVL in European carriers of the mutation (in
linkage disequilibrium with FVL). The same was done on a
randomly selected number of the negative cases (equals to
the number of the positive cases). 99 of the 512 cases were
found positive for the FVL mutation. When the 9 NPs were
analyzed, all our positive cases had the same 9 alleles that
were present in Europeans. However, this was not true in the
negative cases. The results indicate that our positive cases
in Kuwait had most probably descended from the same
proposed European ancestor who had the FVL mutation
event. Further studies are planned to perform additional
molecular tests and combine our results with the available
epidemiological data and anthropological knowledge to
possibly determine how this mutation had reached Kuwait.
e:
mehrez@hsc.edu.kwHow molecular biology can help in finding the origin of genetic defects in different populations
Mehrez M Jadaon
Kuwait University, Kuwait
Ann Biol Sci, 2017, 5:3
DOI: 10.21767/2348-1927-C1-003