Genetic studies of low-abundance human plasma proteins. XI. Linkage analysis and population genetics of the C1S subcomponent of the first complement component

Although subcomponents C1r and C1s of the first complement component, C1, have been established to be in the same linkage group as the proline-rich protein gene cluster on chromosome 12p13.2, no direct analysis of linkage between the C1R and C1S structural gene loci has been available. We have detected through a population screening study 5 families which are heterozygous at the structural loci for both C1R and C1S. Three of the 5 families, 21 individuals, were informative for linkage. A maximum lod score of 1.505 at θ = 0.00 was found in a two-point analysis between C1R and C1S. Ten populations were screened for structural variation at the C1S locus. Only US Whites and a Kodiak Island Eskimo group expressed heterogeneity. The frequencies of the designated alleles, C1S*1 and C1S*2, were 0.992 and 0.007, respectively, in the US White population and 0.998 and 0.002, respectively, in the Kodiak Island Eskimo population. In addition, the product of a putative new allele, designated C1S*4, was observed in a single US White individual but segregation of this variant was not observed in the limited family data available.