Three populations of Southeast Asia comprising 191 Chinese, 121 Malays and 150 Indians, were studied with respect to two recently described mutant luteinizing hormone (LH) variants using molecular techniques. One of these variants had Trp8 to Arg8 and Ile15 to Thr15 replacements in exon 2 of the LH β-subunit, while the other variant possessed Ser102 substitution for Gly102 in exon 3. The exon 2 mutants were in complete linkage disequilibrium. The exon 2 variant had an allele frequency of 0.045 in Chinese, 0.062 in Malays and 0.030 in Indians. The allele frequency of the exon 3 variant was 0.018 in Chinese and null in Malays and Indians. The two LH variants may be markers of interest in studies of disturbed pituitary-gonadal function, menstrual disorders and female infertility.

Keywords:
Luteinizing hormone, Polymerase chain reaction, Restriction fragment lengthpolymorphism, Population genetics, Southeast Asians
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