Re: What is the most alleles known for a single gene?

This is an extremely difficult question to answer because allelic 
diversity for a specific locus varies from one population to another.  
Last year Valdes and his colleagues at the Department of Integrative 
Biology at Berkeley published an article(Ann Hum Genet Vol 63 pp27-43), in 
which they discussed what they appropriately refer to as 'population 
specific evolution' of the HLA (Human Leukocyte Complex) genes.  They 
obtained data from 22 different populations and showed significant 
differences in allelic diversity between populations.  Marcos and his 
group at the Department of Internal Medicine at the Southwestern Medical 
centre in Dallas have carried out a study on HLA allelic diversity in 
indigenous populations in Central and South America.  Their study supports 
data showing that over 600 allelic variants exist for these genes (Tissue 
Antigens Vol 53 pp 476-85).

In addition to the HLA variance we must not overlook the repetitive 
sequences, called STRs or Short Tandem Repeats, that are present 
throughout our entire genome.  The allelic diversity in this case is 
described by the number of repeats of a tetranucleotide sequence that are 
present at any given locus (See Reichenpfader et al, Electrophoresis March 
1999 p514-517).

So between the HLA genes and the STRs, I think you have two of the most 
diverse sets of genetic sequences present in the human genome.


Robert Deyes MSc