Affiliations: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science,
Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan
Note: [] Correspondence: Helmi Yousif Al Farra, Ph.D., Helmi Yousif Al
Farra, Ph.D., PV8 D-13A-3A, Platinum hill, Taman Melati Utama, Jalan Melati
Utamam, 53100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: The main purpose of this study was to determine the frequencies
distribution of methionine synthase (MTR) (MTR 2756 A > G and MTR 2758 C
> G) polymorphisms in the Jordanian population. The frequencies of these
polymorphisms were determined in a sample of 491 individuals (males were 270
and females were 221) collected from all the Jordanian regions, which is a good
representation of the Jordanian population. The different alleles and genotypes
at the two polymorphic sites were identified using the polymerase chain
reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism polymerase chain reaction
restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. Results showed that the
overall percentages in the whole Jordanian population were 90.73% and 9.27% for
the MTR 2756 A and MTR 2756 G alleles respectively. Only the wild type allele
(C) of the MTR 2758 C > G polymorphism was detected. In addition, the
association of MTR 2756 A > G and MTR 2758 C > G polymorphisms with the
development of neural tube defects (NTDs) was examined using 17 cases of
mothers from the Northern part of Jordan who gave birth to NTD affected
children during the period of this study. Results showed no association between
these two examined polymorphisms and the increase in maternal risk for giving
birth to NTD children. The results in this study recommend that more
examination should be done on larger populations to make good conclusion, also
more studies on gene-gene interaction should be done to examine the
associations with NTDs.
Keywords: Neural tube defects, methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, methionine synthase, polymorphism, Jordan
