Re: Is there a test to determine the type of alleles in a persons blood type?

Dear Esperanza,

The technique that you describe is often referred to as "ABO genotyping", in contrast to the typical serotyping method that you probably read about, which only determines the ABO phenotype.  It is a relatively new procedure that has not yet been standardized, as serotyping has, so a variety of different techniques appear to be currently in use.  However, the method in most widespread use to date seems to be based on that developed by the General Hospital & University Clinics at Innsbruck, Austria in 1996 using the polymerase chain reaction with sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP).  It is summarized in this abstract from the article published by Gassner et al. in the journal, Blood, & described in more detail by the complete manuscript, ABO Glycosyltransferase Genotyping by Polymerase Chain Reaction Using Sequence-Specific Primers (in PDF format requiring the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view).  Because this is such a new procedure, I'm not sure how many commercial labs are currently offering it & did not come across any during my search.  However, if you are interested in pursuing this further, a more exhaustive search using the term, "ABO genotyping", might locate such a lab for you.  I will caution you that such a test is likely to be fairly expensive compared to the much simpler ABO serotyping, so you might want to try & locate a university research lab that's already working with ABO genotyping & may be willing to test you without charge.

Thanks for the interesting question,

Jeff Buzby, Ph.D.
CHOC Research Institute
MadSci Genetics Network