We developed a suitable method for analysing dinucleotide repeats found in the upstream of human alpha-estrogen receptor (ER) gene by applying capillary electrophoresis and automatic analysis. This method omits the gel-casting step as well as difficult handling of long polyacrylamide sequencing gels. Use of radioactive materials is also avoided. Using this method, the frequency distribution of ER alleles, determined in 180 Finnish individuals showed two peaks at 12 and 14 repeats (166 and 168 bp) and also at 22 and 24 repeats (184 and 186 bp). The overall distribution of alleles seemed to be similar to that found among Italian and Japanese populations.

Keywords:
Estrogen receptor, Dinucleotide repeat polymorphism, Capillary electrophoresis
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