prevalence of null genotypes of glutathione s-transferase t1 (gstt1) and m1 (gstm1) in seven iranian populations

background: previous studies have revealed significant differences between populations for genotypic frequencies of glutathione s-transferase t1 ( gstt1 ) and m1 ( gstm1 ) polymorphisms. in order to find the frequency of the null genotypes of gstm1 and gstt1 in iranian populations, the present study was carried out. methods: the total study subjects consisted of 1340 unrelated healthy muslims/iranian. from these 297, 200, 123, 168, 152, 200, and 200 individuals from tabriz (east azerbaijan province; belong to azaris), yasuj (kohgiluyeh-va-boyerahmad province; belong to lurs), abarku (yazd province; belong to persians), zahedan (sistan-va-balouchestan province; belong to balouchis), zahedan (sistan-va-balouchestan province; belong to sistanis), kermanshah (kermanshah province; belong to kurds), and gorgan (golestan province; belong to turkmen) respectively. the genotypes were detected by multiplex pcr. results: the frequency of gstm1 null genotype among azaris, lurs, persians, balouchis, sistanis, kurds, and turkmen was 43.8, 50.0, 52.0, 50.0, 51.3, 56.0, and 53.0%, respectively. there was no significant difference between these populations for the genotypic distribution of the gstm1 polymorphism (c 2 =8.47, df=6, p =0.206). the frequency of gstt1 null genotype among azaris, lurs, persians, balouchis, sistanis, kurds, and turkmen was 18.2, 17.0, 29.3, 20.8, 17.8, 18.5, and 23.0%, respectively. there was very similarity between azaris, kurds and lurs for the frequency of gstt1 genotypes (c 2 =0.17, df=2, p =0.916). conclusion: by comparing the frequency of gstt1 genotypes among iranian populations, caucasians and asians, it is concluded that azaris, kurds and lurs were similar to each other. taken together, it is suggested that although azaris are turkish speaking belong to caucasians.