Defining the locus of origin of a genetically determined electrophoretic variant of a multilocus enzyme system; the Calcutta-1 of human LDH system is a B-locus variant.

Six (four Hindus, one Sikh, and one Muslim) outr of 213 individuals originating from different parts of the Indian subcontinent (namely, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, East Punjab, and West Punjab) were found to be Calcutta-1 (CAL1) variants of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). The CAL1 variant was originally described (and thus, generally believed at present) as an allelic variant at the LDHA locus in chromosome 11. By using an improved Cellogel electrophoretic procedure the isozyme patterns observed in the erythrocytes and leukocytes of the variant have indicated that the CAL1 is not variant of LDHA but that of LDHB, a chromosome 12 marker. The suggestion was supported by the isozyme patterns of LDH in a set of segregating clones of man-mouse somatic cell hybrids with the variant as human partner. Moreover, the variant cosegregated consistently with the human chromosome 12 and with the markers firmly assigned to the latter but not with human chromosome 11 or its markers in these hybrids. These results confirmed that the CAL1 is an LDHB variant.