Revista Brasileira de Hematologia e Hemoterapia Print version
ISSN 1516-8484 BATISSOCO, Ana Carla and NOVARETTI, Marcia
Cristina Zago. Molecular aspects of ABO Blood Group System. Rev.
Bras. Hematol. Hemoter. [online]. 2003, vol.25, n.1, pp. 47-58.
ISSN 1516-8484.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1516-84842003000100008. The ABO blood
group is the most important blood group system in transfusion
medicine. Antigens of the ABO system consist of A or B
carbohydrate structure carried on the substrate H antigen The
ABO gene is responsible for encoding for glycosyltransferases A
or B that defines which specific carbohydrate is added to the
end of H substance oligosaccharide chains, GalNaca1-3 and
Gala1-3, respectively. The DNA structure of the three major
alleles of the human blood group ABO system, A1 and B, was first
described in 1990. Advances of molecular genetics have allowed
understanding of the molecular basis of the ABO blood group
system and the knowledge of the common alleles polymorphisms of
this locus. This re