The molecular basis for beta o thalassaemia intermedia in an Iranian individual.

A symptomless Iranian patient homozygous for beta thalassaemia has haematological changes similar to the beta thalassaemia trait. This remarkably mild phenotype is probably the result of coexistent alpha thalassaemia and increased gamma chain synthesis. Restriction endonuclease mapping analysis of the beta globin genes indicates that the patient is homozygous for a single nucleotide substitution at the 5' donor splice junction in the second intervening sequence of the beta globin gene. No other changes were observed in the non-alpha globin gene cluster. It seems unlikely that the augmented gamma chain synthesis in this patient is related to the molecular defect responsible for this beta o thalassaemia.