A new variant of human erythrocyte G6PD occurring at a high frequency amongst the population of two villages in The Gambia, West Africa.

During the course of a large survey of red cell G6PD genotypes in The Gambia, a slow electrophoretic variant with reduced enzyme activity was found to occur at a high frequency. This variant, G6PD Gambia, was found in the following genotypic combinations: males; G6PDGam, females; G6PDA+/Gam, G6PDB+/Gam, and G6PDA-/Gam. From the electrophoretic mobility and kinetic characteristics it was concluded that G6PD Gambia was a hitherto unreported variant of G6PD. The frequency of the G6PDGam gene amongst the 1109 individuals examined was 0.024.