HLA-A36 explained

Distribution

HLA A36 frequencies

		freq
ref.	Population	(%)
	Kenya	6.6
^[1]	N. African (non-caucasian)	4.5
^[2]	Mossi (Burkina Faso)	3.8
^[3]	Beti (Cameroon)	3.7
		3.1
	Lusaka (Zambia)	3.1
	Harare Shona (Zimbabwe)	2.9
		2.6
	Bamileke (Cameroon)	2.6
^[4]		2.4
	Fulani	2.0
		1.6
	Tswana (S. Africa)	1.2
	Kampala (Uganda)	1.2
	Spain	0.9
	Bubi (Equatorial Guinea)	0.5
	!Kung (San)	0.0
	Berber (Morocco)	0.0

A36 is largely limited to Africa. Outside Africa, more than half of the populations have no A36 and the majority that do, have only trace levels. The exception is in Central/East Central Asia. This appears not to be coincidental. HLA DR3-DQ2 linkage and frequency indicates a strong possibility of a recent migration from either North or West Africa in which the DR3-DQ2 (notably DRB1*0302) and A*33-B*58 haplotypes were carried into and redistributed from Central Asia into the surrounding populations.

Notes and References

1. Book: Sasazuki, Takehiko . Tsuji, Kimiyoshi . Aizawa, Miki . HLA 1991: proceedings of the eleventh International Histocompatibility Workshop and Conference, held in Yokohama, Japan, 6–13 November 1991 . Oxford University Press . Oxford [Oxfordshire] . 1992 . 0-19-262390-7 .
2. Modiano D, Luoni G, Petrarca V, etal . HLA class I in three West African ethnic groups: genetic distances from sub-Saharan and Caucasoid populations . Tissue Antigens . 57 . 2 . 128–37 . 2001 . 11260507 . 10.1034/j.1399-0039.2001.057002128.x .
3. Torimiro JN, Carr JK, Wolfe ND, etal . HLA class I diversity among rural rainforest inhabitants in Cameroon: identification of A*2612-B*4407 haplotype . Tissue Antigens . 67 . 1 . 30–7 . 2006 . 16451198 . 10.1111/j.1399-0039.2005.00527.x.
4. Sánchez-Velasco P, Karadsheh NS, García-Martín A, Ruíz de Alegría C, Leyva-Cobián F . Molecular analysis of HLA allelic frequencies and haplotypes in Jordanians and comparison with other related populations . Hum. Immunol. . 62 . 9 . 901–9 . 2001 . 11543892 . 10.1016/S0198-8859(01)00289-0 .