coded by a gene located on the long arm of the X 
chromosome. Studies on the red cell form of G6PD 
performed in Dr. Akira Yoshida's laboratory showed 
that the sequence of the amino end is not repre- 
sented in the cDNA encoded by the X chromosome 
gene but in a different cDNA with a 345-amino acid 
open reading frame. Work firom Dr. Kan's labora- 
tory indicated that this cDNA is transcribed from a 
gene on chromosome 6. G6PD in the red cell is a 
combination of the chromosome 6 and chromo- 
some X protein products. The chromosome 6 pro- 
tein sequence switches to the chromosome X se- 
quence at a methionine residue located 55 amino 
acids from the amino end of the chromosome 6 
peptide. The mRNAs corresponding to the two spe- 
cies are 1.4 and 1.1 kb long, and no mRNA contain- 
PUBLICATIONS 
ing the combined sequence was found by Northern 
blot or by PGR, making the possibility of trans splic- 
ing unlikely. Either the two mRNAs are cross-trans- 
lated so that the ribosomes jump from chromo- 
some 6 mRNA to chromosome X mRNA at the 
position corresponding to the methionine residue 
or the two peptides are joined post-translationally 
by some as yet unknown mechanism. Further ex- 
periments are in progress to study these possibili- 
ties and to determine whether this phenomenon 
occurs in other cell systems. 
Dr. Kan is also Professor of Laboratory Medicine 
and of Medicine and Louis K. Diamond Professor of 
Hematology at the University of California at San 
Francisco. 
Books and Chapters of Books 
Kan, YW 1988. Molecular genetics and its application to medicine. In Proceedings of the Centennial Confer- 
ence, Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong (Morgan, VE., Yeung, D.C.Y, and Hwang, J.C.C., Eds.). 
Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, pp 35-40. 
Articles 
Cai, S.-P, Chang, C.A., Zhang, J.-Z., Saiki, R.K., Erlich, H.A., and Kan, YW 1989. Rapid prenatal diagnosis of 
(3 thalassemia using DNA amplification and nonradioactive probes. Blood 73:372-374. 
Cai, S.-R, Zhang, J.-Z., Doherty, M. , and Kan, YW 1989. A new TATA box mutation detected at prenatal diag- 
nosis for (3-thalassemia. Am f Hum Genet 45:112-114. 
Chan, V, Chan, TK., Kan, YW , and Todd, D. 1988. A novel (^-thalassemia frameshift mutation (codon 14/15), 
detectable by direct visualization of abnormal restriction fragment in amplified genomic DNA. Blood 
72:1420-1423. 
Chehab, F.F., Winterhalter, K.H., and Kan, YW 1989. Characterization of a spontaneous mutation in 
(3-thalassemia associated with advanced paternal age. Blood 74:852-854. 
Chehab, F.F., Xiao, X., Kan, YW, and Yen, T.S.B. 1989. Detection of cytomegalovirus infection in paraffin- 
embedded tissue specimens with the polymerase chain reaction. Mod Pathol 2:75-78. 
Conboy, J.G., Chan, J., Mohandas, N., and Kan, YW 1988. Multiple protein 4.1 isoforms produced by alterna- 
tive splicing in human erythroid cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 85:9062-9065. 
Dunbar, C, Travis, W, Kan, YW, and Nienhuis, A. 1989. 5-Azacytidine treatment in a p°-thalassemic patient 
unable to be transfused due to multiple alloantibodies. Br J Haematol 72:467-468. 
Kanno, H., Huang, L-Y, Kan, YW, and Yoshida, A. 1989. Two structural genes on different chromosomes are 
required for encoding the major subunit of human red cell glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. Cell 
58:595-606. 
Kosasih, E.N., Cai, S.-P, Kan, YW, and Lie-Injo, L.E. 1988. Hemoglobin constant spring defined by specific oli- 
gonucleotide hybridization and hemoglobin D Punjab (pl2i^Gln^ jj^ ^ Batak Indonesian family. Am J 
Hematol 29:22-26. 
Perrine, S.P, Rudolph, A., Faller, D.V, Roman, C., Cohen, R.A., Chen, S.-J., and Kan, YW 1988. Butyrate infu- 
sions in the ovine fetus delay the biologic clock for globin gene switching. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 
85:8540-8542. 
Continued 
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