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Evolutionary genetics of the human Rh blood group system

Overview of attention for article published in Human Genetics, February 2012
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  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (96th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (99th percentile)

Mentioned by

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3 news outlets
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13 X users
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1 patent
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1 Facebook page

Citations

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19 Dimensions

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mendeley
76 Mendeley
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3 CiteULike
Title
Evolutionary genetics of the human Rh blood group system
Published in
Human Genetics, February 2012
DOI 10.1007/s00439-012-1147-5
Pubmed ID
Authors

George H. Perry, Yali Xue, Richard S. Smith, Wynn K. Meyer, Minal Çalışkan, Omar Yanez-Cuna, Arthur S. Lee, María Gutiérrez-Arcelus, Carole Ober, Edward J. Hollox, Chris Tyler-Smith, Charles Lee

Abstract

The evolutionary history of variation in the human Rh blood group system, determined by variants in the RHD and RHCE genes, has long been an unresolved puzzle in human genetics. Prior to medical treatments and interventions developed in the last century, the D-positive (RhD positive) children of D-negative (RhD negative) women were at risk for hemolytic disease of the newborn, if the mother produced anti-D antibodies following sensitization to the blood of a previous D-positive child. Given the deleterious fitness consequences of this disease, the appreciable frequencies in European populations of the responsible RHD gene deletion variant (for example, 0.43 in our study) seem surprising. In this study, we used new molecular and genomic data generated from four HapMap population samples to test the idea that positive selection for an as-of-yet unknown fitness benefit of the RHD deletion may have offset the otherwise negative fitness effects of hemolytic disease of the newborn. We found no evidence that positive natural selection affected the frequency of the RHD deletion. Thus, the initial rise to intermediate frequency of the RHD deletion in European populations may simply be explained by genetic drift/founder effect, or by an older or more complex sweep that we are insufficiently powered to detect. However, our simulations recapitulate previous findings that selection on the RHD deletion is frequency dependent and weak or absent near 0.5. Therefore, once such a frequency was achieved, it could have been maintained by a relatively small amount of genetic drift. We unexpectedly observed evidence for positive selection on the C allele of RHCE in non-African populations (on chromosomes with intact copies of the RHD gene) in the form of an unusually high F( ST ) value and the high frequency of a single haplotype carrying the C allele. RhCE function is not well understood, but the C/c antigenic variant is clinically relevant and can result in hemolytic disease of the newborn, albeit much less commonly and severely than that related to the D-negative blood type. Therefore, the potential fitness benefits of the RHCE C allele are currently unknown but merit further exploration.

X Demographics

X Demographics

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 76 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Spain 1 1%
United States 1 1%
Kenya 1 1%
Unknown 73 96%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 15 20%
Student > Master 13 17%
Researcher 12 16%
Student > Bachelor 8 11%
Student > Doctoral Student 5 7%
Other 10 13%
Unknown 13 17%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 25 33%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 11 14%
Immunology and Microbiology 10 13%
Medicine and Dentistry 6 8%
Psychology 2 3%
Other 8 11%
Unknown 14 18%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 39. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 16 December 2023.
All research outputs
#1,048,566
of 25,349,035 outputs
Outputs from Human Genetics
#82
of 3,097 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#4,928
of 161,820 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Human Genetics
#1
of 13 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,349,035 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 95th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,097 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.8. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 97% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 161,820 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 13 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.